French destroyer Arbalète

Arbalète was a Arquebuse-class destroyer contre-torpilleur d'escadre built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1903, the ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée).

Design and description
The Arquebuse class was designed as a faster version of the preceding Durandal-class destroyer. The ships had an overall length of 56.58 m, a beam of 6.3 m, and a maximum draft of 3.2 m. They normally displaced 307 t and 357 t at deep load. The two vertical triple-expansion steam engines each drove one propeller shaft using steam provided by two du Temple Guyot or Normand boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of 6300 ihp for a designed speed of 28 kn, all the ships exceeded their contracted speed during their sea trials. Arbalète proved to be the fastest ship of her class, reaching 31.4 kn from 7136 ihp during her sea trials. They carried enough coal to give them a range of 2300 nmi at 10 kn. Their crew consisted of four officers and fifty-eight enlisted men.

The main armament of the Arquebuse-class ships consisted of a single 65 mm gun forward of the bridge and six 47 mm Hotchkiss guns in single mounts, three on each broadside. They were fitted with two single rotating mounts for 381 mm torpedo tubes on the centerline, one between the funnels and the other on the stern.

Construction and career
Arbalète (Arbalest) was ordered from Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand on 1 August 1900 and the ship was laid down on 23 November at its shipyard in Le Havre. She was launched on 28 April 1903 and conducted her sea trials during May–August 1903. The ship was commissioned (armement définitif) after their completion and was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron.

When the First World War began in August 1914, Arbalète was a leader (divisionnaire) in the 1st Submarine and Destroyer Flotilla (1ère escadrille sous-marins et torpilleurs) of the 1st Naval Army (1ère Armée navale), based in Toulon.