French destroyer Rapière

Rapière was a Pertuisane-class destroyer built for the French Navy around the beginning of the 20th century.

Sister ship Pertuisane
History
France
Name	Rapière
Namesake	Rapier
Ordered	8 June 1899
Builder	Arsenal de Rochefort
Laid down	2 January 1900
Launched	16 July 1901
Stricken	27 October 1921
Fate	Scrapped after 1921
General characteristics
Class and type	Pertuisane-class destroyer
Displacement	301 long tons (306 t)
Length	57.64 m (189 ft 1 in) (o/a)
Beam	6.3 m (20 ft 8 in)
Draft	3.2 m (10 ft 6 in)
Installed power	4 water-tube boilers 4,800 ihp (3,579 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph)
Range	2,300 nmi (4,300 km; 2,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	52
Armament	1 × single 65 mm (2.6 in) gun 6 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 2 × single 380 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes

Construction and service

When the First World War began in August 1914, Rapière was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla (3^e escadrille de torpilleurs) of the 2nd Light Squadron (2^e escadre légère)^[1] based at Cherbourg.