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

Ordered on 30 June 1922 and Laid down at Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in Saint-Nazaire, France, on 1 February 1924 with the pennant number Q132, Galatée was launched on 18 December 1925.

The threat of Italian entry into the war increased thereafter, and in response the French on 26 May began stationing two Toulon-based submarines — Galatée among them — on a rotating basis at Îles d'Hyères, from which they could reach defensive patrol areas off Nice and Saint-Tropez within two hours.

From 10 to 19 June, Galatée and Sirène took turns maintaining a defensive patrol in the Tyrrhenian Sea off Bastia and Alistro on the east coast of Corsica.

On 3 July 1940, a British Royal Navy squadron attacked a French Navy squadron moored at the naval base at Mers El Kébir near Oran on the coast of Algeria, and, with tensions with the United Kingdom running high, Sirène, Galatée, and the submarines Diamant, La Sultane, and Perle anchored on alert at Vignettes on 9 July 1940 in case the British attempted an attack on Toulon.

[3] From 16 June to 30 July 1941, Galatée underwent a major refit in a floating drydock at the Arsenal of Sidi-Abdallah at Bizerte, Tunisia.

[3] Under guard in an unarmed and unfueled state in accordance with the terms of the 1940 armistice and unable get underway when Germany and Italy occupied the Free Zone (French: Zone libre) of Vichy France on 27 November 1942, Galatée was among the French vessels scuttled at Toulon to prevent their seizure by Germany when German forces entered Toulon that day.

[3] On 16 May 1944, the Germans decided to hand Galatée over to French authorities to provide a reserve of equipment, and the handover took place on 4 July 1944.