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

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

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.

References

Bibliography

• Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
• 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. ISBN 978-2-37468-000-2.
• 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. ISBN 978-2-37468-001-9.
• Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.