| abstract | - Gustave Zédé was one of the world's earliest commissioned naval submarines. She was launched on 1 July 1893 at Toulon, France, although only formally entering service with the French Navy in May 1900 after a long series of trials and design alterations. The submarine carried out the first successful torpedo attack by a submerged vessel against a surface ship. The boat was named for Gustave Zédé, a French naval architect who had worked on its design, but who died in 1891 following an explosion during development of an experimental torpedo. The submarine was ordered on 4 October 1890 with the name Sirène. Development followed on from the previous smaller design, Gymnote. Both ships were electrically propelled using power from storage batteries.
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