French destroyer Carabine

Carabine 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 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 with Carabine reaching a speed of 30.2 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
Carabine (Carbine) was ordered from Arsenal de Rochefort on 4 May 1900 and the ship was laid down on 15 July 1901. She was launched on 21 July 1902 and conducted her sea trials during May–September 1903. The ship was commissioned (armée definitif) after their completion and was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron.

On 22 October 1907, Enseigne de vaisseau Charles-Benjamin Ullmo, second in command of Carabine, was arrested near Toulon, after a failed attempt to blackmail the French government, demanding 150,000 Francs for secret documents in his possession, which he would otherwise sell to a foreign power. On investigation, it was found that Ullmo had already attempted to sell the documents to a German agent, but the offer had been rejected because he had demanded too much money (950,000 Francs). Ullmo was tried and convicted of High Treason and sentenced to deportation for life to the penal colony of Devil's Island.

She reduced to reserve while under repair in 1913–1915 at Bizerte, French Tunisia.

On 1 October 1918, Carabine was in collision with the British merchant ship Mentor, and her foredeck and bridge were badly damaged. Carabine was towed to Palermo, Sicily for temporary repair, before being sent to Bizerte, Tunisia. Carabine was condemned on 8 January 1919.