Built by the Toulon Naval Arsenal and launched 13^th October 1904 as one of 20 "Naïade" boats launched between 1903-1907, the Alose and her sister Anguille were the last of these vessels to enter service on 31^st July 1907, almost 3 years after their launch. Constructed from steel with a single hull and a bronze conning tower, she was operated by an all-electric propulsion system and dual dynamo-run engine. Her armament of two 45cm. torpedoes fixed in external frames which could only be launched when submerged. By closing the conning tower hatch she could change from full surface trim to periscope depth in about 3 minutes. She had an active range of 200 miles surface and 30 miles submerged and measured 23.7 metres in length with 2,26 metre beam.

Her small size meant she was of little use at war, the purpose for which she had been designed, yet the "Naïade's" proved to be valuable peacetime training boats for dives. In this way the Alose enjoyed an 8-year career inside the harbour breakwaters at Toulon. In 1917 she was moved near to Fréjus and employed as a bombing target. After narrowly avoiding two bombs she was sunk on 28^th March 1918. The wreck was abandoned until 58 years later when she was discovered and salvaged by the Comex diving company. She was subsequently put on display at their company headquarters in Marseilles making her one of only a dozen pre-1914 submarines still in existence around the world.