Propelled on the surface by two diesel engines producing a combined 6,000 horsepower (4,474 kW), they had a maximum speed of 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h; 21.4 mph).

Laid down at Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in Saint-Nazaire, France, on 4[2] or 24 September 1927 with the hull number Q150, Achéron was launched on 6 August 1929.

[2] In 1937, Achéron received orders to make a cruise to Argentina in company with her sister ships Agosta, Bévéziers, and Fresnel.

[3] At the start of World War II in September 1939, Achéron was assigned to the 3rd Submarine Division in the 2nd Squadron — a component of the 1st Flotilla — based at Toulon, France.

While Fresnel remained at Bizerte, the division′s other submarines then transferred to Beirut in the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, from which they operated under the command of the British Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Andrew Cunningham at Alexandria, Egypt.

On the day Italy entered the war, British submarines based at Beirut departed for operations in the Aegean Sea off the Dardanelles and in the Tobruk area off the coast of Libya, and on 11 June the French submarines L'Espadon, Phoque, and Protée also departed to operate in the Dodecanese, leaving only Achéron to defend the approaches to Beirut.

[9] By 1 November 1942, still in this status at Toulon, Achéron had been assigned to the 1st Submarine Group along with her sister ships L'Espoir, Le Glorieux, and Vengeur.

[3] Achéron was at Toulon when Germany and Italy occupied the Free Zone (French: Zone libre) of Vichy France on 27 November 1942, and she was among the French vessels scuttled at Toulon to prevent their seizure by Germany when German forces entered the naval base that day,[2][10] sinking in Dock No.