Bouclier-class destroyer

The Bouclier class consisted of twelve destroyers built between 1910 and 1912 for the French Navy, four of which were lost during the First World War.

Design and description
The Bouclier-class was nearly double the size of the preceding 450 t destroyers to match the increase in size of foreign destroyers. The French Navy issued a general specification that required oil-fired boilers, steam turbine propulsion and a uniform armament that allowed individual shipyards the freedom to design their ships as they saw fit. This allowed for some variations in size (from 72.32 - 78.3 m in length) and machinery (FRENCH DESTROYER Bouclier and FRENCH DESTROYER Casque had three shafts, all the others had two, while Casque has three funnels, all the rest had four).

Bouclier was the shortest ship with an overall length of 72.32 meters and her sister ships ranged in length from 74 to 78.3 m. All of the ships had beams of 7.6 - 8 m and drafts of 2.9 - 3.3 m. Bouclier and her sister FRENCH DESTROYER Francis Garnier had the lightest displacements at 692 t; the others displaced 720 - 756 t at normal load. Their crews numbered 80–83 men.

The destroyers were powered by two or three steam turbines of four different models, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four water-tube boilers of four different types. The turbines were designed to produce 13000 shp which was intended to give the ships a speed of 30 kn. During their sea trials, they reached speeds of 29.3 - 35.5 kn. The ships carried 120 - 160 t of fuel oil which gave them a range of 1200 - 1600 nmi at cruising speeds of 12 - 14 kn.

The primary armament of the Bouclier-class ships consisted of two 100 mm Modèle 1893 guns in single mounts, one each fore and aft of the superstructure, and four 65 mm Modèle 1902 guns distributed amidships. They were also fitted with two twin mounts for 450 mm torpedo tubes amidships.

During World War I, a 45 mm or 75 mm anti-aircraft gun, two 8 mm machine guns, and eight or ten Guiraud-type depth charges were added to the ships. The extra weight severely overloaded the ships and reduced their operational speed to around 26 kn.