A place steeped in history

 

A tribute to French submariners

The BARRACUDA & SPA is built on the site of the gates to the Arsenal of Brest, by which military personnel, mariners and engineers would enter the Arsenal on their way to work or to their ship.

This gate was named after a masterpiece of French ship building: the Surcouf.

Built by the government of Raymond Poincaré in 1929, and outfitted in 1934, the Surcouf was the largest military submarine in the world (110 metres), at the time, and the most heavily armed in France.

At the start of the Second World War, the Surcouf was stationed at the gate where the Barracuda & Spa stands today.

When the German troops invaded in 1940, the submarine and its crew put to sea immediately to prevent the enemy seizing the vessel.

After joining the Free Forces in the Pacific, the submarine sank with 130 submariners on board, on the night of 18 February 1942. It is said that the Surcouf was attacked and destroyed by American planes that mistook it for a German submarine.

Jean-Pierre Hebert, a former submariner and founder of the residence, named it the BARRACUDA, in memory of his brothers in arms and as a tribute to the new generation of Barracuda submarines.

May they always be remembered.