Gustave Zédé


Gustave Zédé was a French naval engineer and pioneering designer of submarines.

Early life

He was born in Paris in February 1825. After studying at the École Polytechnique in November 1843 he qualified in 1845 as a Marine engineer and went to work at the Brest Naval Dockyard.

Career

By 1863 he was chief engineer in charge of ship-building under the direction of Henri Dupuy de Lôme, and under his leadership Zédé helped design and build Gymnote, the first practicable submarine, which was launched in 1880,
In 1877 Zédé had become Director of Naval Construction, but in 1880 he left to be a director of the Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, a shipyard at Toulon.
In 1880 he started planning the construction of Sirene, a larger version of the Gymnote and France's earliest commissioned naval submarines. Sirene was ordered by the French Navy in 1890, and launched in 1893. After Zédé's death she was renamed in his honour.
Gustave Zédé died in April 1891, aged 66 years.

Recognition