Hypotheses and rumors about the disappearance of the Minerva
Those who wanted to see the file were told that it was empty.
But how is it possible to understand that this emptiness is protected by secrecy?
This seemingly absurd situation gave rise to numerous rumours about the causes of the disappearance.
This article from a 1968 TV magazine is the first rumors that begin to circulate
Some were granted an exemption to consult it. They discovered either elements they already knew or documents of no interest whatsoever. Their disappointment led them to believe that the file had been purged of documents compromising the Navy...
How could they believe that photos showing sandy seabeds, rocks covered in underwater concretions and shipwrecks could be covered by the defence secret?
How can we believe that simple expense accounts for train tickets for people attending the tribute ceremonies can be covered by defence secrecy?
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The Navy did not want to make its mistakes public.
The Navy is said to know the reasons for the sinking, for which it is directly responsible, but did not want this to be known in order to protect its reputation.
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The causes of the accident were concealed for reasons of economic and commercial interests
This thesis is the one developed by Le Monde in 2000 and regularly taken up since by other daily newspapers (see Controversies page).
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The Minerva was said to have been on a secret mission
The simultaneous, or almost simultaneous, disappearance in the Mediterranean of the Israeli submarine Dakar on January 25, 1968 and of the Minerve on January 27, 1968 could not have been accidental.
Main rumors about the causes of the disappearance of the Minerva or the reasons for maintaining the "Confidential Defense" status
An incomprehensible secret
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The crew was incompetent, starting with its commander.
This hypothesis has circulated primarily in military circles. The commander's widow has been attacked on this point on a personal level, and she has even violently left dinners to which she had been invited following such accusations. The commander's sister, the wife of a naval officer, also had to deal with it.
The LV André Fauve at the Naval Academy in 1967
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The crew, still alive, captured by the Russians, was held in the gulag in Siberia.
We imagine a scene like in the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" where we see a submarine captured by a gigantic boat which swallows it.
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The Minerve had suffered a failure of a new type of weaponry that it was testing.
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The Minerve had been sunk by the Algerians during a secret operation off the Mers El Kébir base in Algeria, which France had just returned to Algeria.
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The Minerve was apparently the victim of an accidental firing of a "Malafon" missile from the Galissonière where they were undergoing testing.
The ship's logbook, however, states that the boat was moored at the quayside in Toulon that day.
Journal de borde de la Galissonière le 27/01/1968
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The wreck was reportedly located by the Americans in the early 1980s.
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UFOs, extraterrestrial intervention...