Mousqueton was a Arquebuse-classdestroyercontre-torpilleur d'escadre built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1904, the ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée).
The Arquebuseclass was designed as a faster version of the preceding Durandal class. The ships had an overall length of 56.58 meters (185 ft 8 in),[1]abeam of 6.3 meters (20 ft 8 in), and a maximum draft of 3.2 meters (10 ft 6 in).[2] They normally displaced 307 metric tons (302 long tons) and 357 t (351 long tons) at deep load. The two vertical triple-expansion steam engines each drove one propeller shaft using steam provided by two du Temple GuyotorNormand boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of 6,300 indicated horsepower (4,700 kW)[1] for a designed speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph),[3] all the ships exceeded their contracted speed during their sea trials, although Mousqueton was the slowest ship of her class at 28.8 knots (53.3 km/h; 33.1 mph).[1] They carried enough coal to give them a range of 2,300 nautical miles (4,300 km; 2,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[2] Their crew consisted of four officers and fifty-eight enlisted men.[1]
The main armament of the Arquebuse-class ships consisted of a single 65-millimeter (2.6 in) gun forward of the bridge and six 47-millimeter (1.9 in)Hotchkiss guns in single mounts, three on each broadside. They were fitted with two single rotating mounts for 381-millimeter (15 in) torpedo tubes on the centerline, one between the funnels and the other on the stern.[1]
When the First World War began in August 1914, Mousqueton was a leader (divisionnaire) in the 2nd Submarine and Destroyer Flotilla (2e escadrille sous-marins et torpilleurs) of the 1st Naval Army (1ère Armée navale),[6] based at Bizerte, French Tunisia.[4]
According to a British report of 5 June, Mousqueton and the destroyers Voltigeur and Hache were assigned to patrol the area around Cape Matapan, Greece.[7]
Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome I 1914–1915 [The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book I 1914–1915]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 23. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN978-2-37468-000-2.
Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome II 1916–1918 [The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book II 1916–1918]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 27. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN978-2-37468-001-9.
Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-5267-4533-0.
Stanglini, Ruggero & Cosentino, Michelle (2022). The French Fleet: Ships, Strategy and Operations, 1870-1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-5267-0131-2.
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