On March 4, 1970 the
French submarine Eurydice exploded, killing all 57 sailors aboard. On
the morning of March 4, the French military command lost contact with
the Eurydice. At the same time 35 miles east of Toulon, a geophysical
laboratory picked up shock waves of an underwater explosion.
The Eurydice was a ship of
the Daphné class, diesel-electric patrol submarines built in France
between 1958 and 1970 for the French Navy and for export. Two of
these subs in this class, the Eurydice in 1970 and the Minerva in
1968 sank due to mechanical accidents.