French destroyer Branlebas

Branlebas was the name ship of her class of destroyers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

During World War I, Branlebas struck a mine and sank in the North Sea between Dunkirk, France, and Nieuwpoort, Belgium, on 30 September 1915.

Design
The Branlebas-class was a development of the previous Claymore-class destroyer, and was the final evolution of the 300-tonne type which the French had built since 1899, with their first destroyer class, the Durandal-class destroyer. Like all the 300-tonne destroyers, the Branlebas class had a turtledeck forecastle with a flying deck, raised above the hull, aft.

They were 58 m long between perpendiculars and 193 ft overall, with a beam of 6.28 m and a maximum draught of 2.37 m. Displacement was 344 LT. Two coal-fired Normand or Du Temple boilers fed steam to two triple-expansion steam engines, rated at 6800 ihp, and driving two propeller shafts, giving a design speed of 27.5 kn. The ships had a range of 2100 nmi at 10 kn.

A 20 mm belt of armour was fitted to protect the ship's boilers and machinery from splinters. The class was built with the standard gun armament for the 300-tonne destroyers, with a single 65 mm forward, backed up by six 47 mm guns, while two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes were carried. The ships had a complement of 4 officers and 56 men.

Construction and service
Branlebas was laid down at the Le Havre shipyard of Chantiers et Ateliers A. Normand in November 1905 and was launched on 8 October 1910. She reached a speed of 28.76 kn during sea trials.

When the First World War began in August 1914, Branlebas was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla (1re escadrille de torpilleurs) of the 2nd Light Squadron (2e escadre légère) based at Cherbourg.