Manufacturer: Matchbox
Scale: 1/700
Additional parts: parts from spare part box, 3D prints
Model build: Feb - Mar 2021
French Fletcher-class DD Jules Verne
Matchbox / 3D prints
1/700
1/700
Kaura Rescue
The icy wind whipped across the North Atlantic, biting through Lieutenant Commander Jean Dubois’ uniform as he stood on the bridge of the Jules Verne. March 1961, and the retrofitted destroyer, once a hunter, was now a guardian - a guardian angel for submarines in distress. Its mission: rescue the crew of the Norwegian submarine Kaura, trapped 180 meters below the surface.
The Jules Verne, no longer bristling with guns, had a different kind of firepower now. Its heart was the miniature submarine nestled on the aft deck - the Nemo. A marvel of French engineering, the Nemo, named after Verne’s fictional Captain Nemo, could carry 20 souls and dive to a thousand meters. Today, its mission was desperate. The Kaura had suffered a malfunction during a routine patrol, and time was running out for its crew.
Dubois, a veteran of the Algerian War, felt a knot of tension in his gut. This was their first real test, the first time the Jules Verne and Nemo would be thrown into the unforgiving embrace of the deep. Below, crews scurried around the Nemo, making final preparations. Ensign Laurent, the pilot, a man barely out of his twenties, climbed into the cramped cockpit, his face grim with determination.
The deployment was a well-rehearsed ballet. The crane hoisted the Nemo into the churning sea. Laurent’s voice crackled through the comms, calm amidst the growing storm. “Nemo ready to dive, Jules Verne.”
“Nemo, commence dive,” came Dubois’ reply, his voice tight.
The tiny submarine plunged into the inky abyss. The world inside the Jules Verne became a tense vigil. Sonar pings echoed in the control room, the only sound breaking the stifling silence. Every ping felt like an eternity.
Then, a crackle. “Jules Verne, this is Nemo. Visual contact with Kaura. Hull breach detected on forward section.”
A cold dread filled Dubois. A hull breach meant a compromised atmosphere. The urgency doubled.
“Nemo, prepare for docking.”
The docking procedure was delicate. Laurent maneuvered the Nemo with the precision of a surgeon, finally latching onto the Kaura’s escape hatch. Time seemed to distort as Laurent reported system failures on the Nemo. They were running low on oxygen.
Dubois made a split-second decision. “Nemo, emergency evacuation. Transfer maximum personnel per dive.”
The next few hours were a blur of frantic activity. Three harrowing dives ferried most of the Kaura’s crew to safety. But with each dive, the Nemo’s vitals worsened.
Finally, only the Captain and two crewmen remained on the Kaura. Hope dwindled with the Nemo’s oxygen reserves. Then, a miracle. A frantic message from the Kaura. They had managed to jury-rig their own systems and were attempting a surface ascent.
Relief washed over Dubois like a wave. On the surface, the battered Kaura emerged, its crew weak but alive. Cheers erupted on the Jules Verne’s deck, a stark contrast to the tense silence of the past few hours.
The Jules Verne had tasted its first success, a baptism by fire in the icy depths. As they sailed back, the setting sun cast a long golden glow across the sea, a silent testament to the courage of men and the marvel of machines that defied the ocean’s wrath.
As part of the Mutual Defence Assistance Act, France acquired two USN aircraft carriers in the early 1950s, the La Fayette and the Bois Belleau. Part of this deal were also four Fletcher class destroyers, but the French Navy had no real use for those ships. Therefore, new roles were searched for them.
With the development of more modern submarines, the French Navy saw the need of developing some kind of rescue vehicle to get access to sunken submarines, something that would later be called DSRV in the US Navy.
This development led to the 'Véhicule de sauvetage en haute mer' – or short VSM – a small submersible, being able to dock to a sunken submarine. As a fast transport for the VSM was needed, one of the mothballed Fletcher class destroyers was reactivated and rebuild as a transport ship for the VSM, a 'Navire de sauvetage sous-marin'.
The former DD-474 Fullam was chosen for this and while the forward part of the ship – including its armament – was kept as it was, the superstructures on the stern were removed and a transport rack for the VSM was added. A huge crane was added and the complete torpedo armament was removed and replaced with additional boats to support the operation of the VSM.
In 1958, the now called "Jules Verne" was commissioned but as the development of the VSM took longer as expected, it only got fully operational in 1961. The VSM – called "Nemo" was able to carry 20 persons and had a maximum diving depth of about 1000 meters.
Both, the Jules Verne and the Nemo were operational until 1989 when they were put out of service. During its 28 years of operation, the Jules Verne took place in several training operations not only with the French Navy, but also with other NATO forces.
The only time where the Nemo was used in a real operation was the accident of the Norwegian Submarine Kaura which had a diving accident in its last year of operation in 1961. Stuck in a depth of about 180 meters, the Nemo was able to rescue most of the crew in three dives until the remaining crew was able to free the Norwegian sub and surface the ship.
The model is based on a 1/700 scale Matchbox Fletcher kit. The VSM and the transport rack are 3D printed with a SLA printer, additional boats, cranes and other parts were taken from the spare part box. PE parts are from Eduard. The model is painted in Revell Aqua Color.
3D models used: DSRV by RRWerft (Thingiverse)
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