 Opened on 15 February 1869, it was renamed René-Le-Bas, named after the first doctor who joined the Free Naval Forces and died in 1942 aboard the submarine "Surcouf".It was closed in 2002 and renovated as a University campus.Attached to the Diocese of Coutances-Avranches, until 1 September 2009 the deanery of Cherbourg covered the territory of the urban community and the bordering communes of Tonneville, Urville-Nacqueville, and those of the former Communauté de communes de la Saire, and the Communauté de communes de Douve et Divette.