Rubis

The French Rubis-class submarines are the smallest nuclear attack submarines ever built. Laid down in 1976, the first vessel, the Rubis, inherited its sonar and torpedo systems from the diesel-electric Agosta class. By 1984, four vessels of this class featured improved sonar, silencing, and dive-launched Exocet antiship missiles. These submarines displace approximately 2,400 tons and are about 71 meters (235 feet) long. They were later followed by two similar, slightly larger Amethyste-class submarines in the early 1990s. France's subsequent Barracuda class, planned in the late 1990s, features larger submarines designed for land-attack cruise missiles and advanced surveillance.12