Minerve was built at the Arsenal de Cherbourg, laid down on 17 August 1931, launched on 23 October 1934, and commissioned on 15 September 1936[2] into the 2e Escadrille des Sous-Marins ("2nd Submarine Squadron") for service in the Atlantic.

[4] When the Germans invaded France on 10 May 1940 she was laid up undergoing maintenance,[3] so on 18 June 1940 Minerve, under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Bazin[5] left Brest towed by the tugboat Zeelew.

[6] On 3 July 1940 Minerve (along with all other French naval vessels in British ports) was boarded by Royal Navy troops as part of Operation Catapult, and the crew interned.

[2] She was recommissioned in January 1941[3] under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Pierre Sonneville[7] and while based at Dundee carried out patrols around the coast of Scotland, in the North Sea, and the Atlantic.

[8] On 10 October 1943, while on a patrol of the Western Approaches from Plymouth,[5] Minerve surfaced to carry out repairs on a diesel engine while about 300 nautical miles west of Brest.