French destroyer Bélier

Bélier was a Arquebuse-class destroyer contre-torpilleur d'escadre built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1904, the ship was assigned to the Northern Squadron (Escadre du Nord).

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 with Bélier reaching a speed of 30 kn. 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
Bélier (Battering ram) was ordered from Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire on 22 May 1901 and the ship was laid down in September at its shipyard in Nantes. She was launched on 29 May 1903 and conducted her sea trials during January–March 1904. The ship was commissioned (armement définitif) the following month after their completion and was assigned to the Northern Squadron.

When the First World War began in August 1914, Bélier was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla (3e escadrille de torpilleurs) of the 2nd Light Squadron (2e escadre légère) based at Cherbourg.