[2] Laid down by Chantiers Schneider et Cie at Chalon-sur-Saône, France, on 3 February 1931[2][3] with the pennant number Q177, she was launched on 5 August 1932.

[2][3] When World War II began with Nazi Germany′s invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, La Sultane was stationed at Bizerte in Tunisia as part of the 17th Submarine Division in the 6th Squadron, a component of the 4th Flotilla in Maritime Prefecture IV.

When the attack on Mers-el-Kébir — in which 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 — took place on 3 July 1940, she was a part of Group B at Toulon along with the submarines Céres, Iris, Pallas, Sirène, and Vénus.

[2] With tensions with the United Kingdom still high, La Sultane, Sirène, and the submarines Diamant, Galatée, and Perle anchored at La Vignettes at 20:00 on 9 July 1940 on alert to defend Toulon while Cérès, Iris, Pallas, and Vénus patrolled in the Mediterranean Sea 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) south of Toulon.

[2] In October 1940, Le Sultane was disarmed and placed under guard at Toulon under the terms of the June 1940 armistice.

On 9 December 1940, the 17th Submarine Division — now reduced to La Sultane, Aréthuse, and La Vestale — departed Toulon in company with the submarine Archimède and the Élan-class sloop-of-war Commandant Bory bound for Casablanca in French Morocco, which they reached on 16 December.

[2] On 12 September 1941, the two submarines departed Casbalanca bound for Safi, French Morocco, where they arrived that evening.

[2] La Sultane joined Aréthuse at Agadir, French Morocco, that day, remaining there until 22 September 1941.

[2] While La Sultane was at Dakar,[2] Allied forces landed in French North Africa in Operation Torch on 8 November 1942.

[2] During April 1943, La Sultane, Aréthuse, and the submarines Antiope and Perle took part in patrols off the coast of Southern France between Cannes and Marseille.

[2] La Sultane and the submarine Orphée occupied patrol areas off Toulon and Saint-Raphaël, France, from January to March 1944.

[2] In a friendly fire incident on 15 May 1944, an Allied plane which either ignored or failed to see her recognition signals mistook her for a German U-boat and bombed and strafed her.

[2] Operation Dragoon, the Allied amphibious landings in Provence on the coast of Southern France, took place on 15 August 1944.