Launched on 23 October 1958, she served as flagship within the Toulon submarine squadron, and spent over 2,000 days at sea and over 32,000 hours underwater. She was decommissioned on 31 July 1982. After extensive discussions beginning in 1982, in 1989 the Argonaute was transferred from Toulon via Gibraltar to Le Havre, then through the seven locks of the Saint-Denis Canal. Once at the quay on the Canal de l'Ourcq, she was lifted from the water by cranes and transported by trailer to her current site.