They were built to conform to the interwar naval treaties arising from the 1922 Washington and 1930 London conferences, which placed restrictions on the number and size of warships of various types that nations could build.

As with all French submarines of this period, the midships torpedo tubes were fitted externally in trainable mounts.

The French Navy was content to leave the design features for the boats to the builders, after laying down the specifications.

The 600/630 Series was succeeded by the Minerve class, an Admiralty design based on the 630 specification, and which sought to increase standardization.

[2] The 600/630 Series submarines served with the Marine Nationale and with the Free French during World War II in a full range of front-line duties and missions.