She was a trials submarine for submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and powered by diesel electric engines.

She is named in honour of Gymnote, the world's first all-electric submarine built in France in the late 19th century.

But French engineers were unable to produce a reactor small enough to fit into the submarine, which led to the project being canceled in 1959.

[1] In the early 1960s the French government decided to develop an independent nuclear deterrent based on SLBM's.

Hull Q244 was redesigned as a trials submarine with diesel-electric propulsion and four missile tubes in an extended casing.