French destroyer Carabine


Carabine was a 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.

Design and description

The Arquebuse class was designed as a faster version of the preceding. The ships had an overall length of, a beam of, and a maximum draft of. They normally displaced and 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 for a designed speed of, all the ships exceeded their contracted speed during their sea trials with Carabine reaching a speed of. They carried enough coal to give them a range of at. Their crew consisted of four officers and fifty-eight enlisted men.
The main armament of the Arquebuse-class ships consisted of a single gun forward of the bridge and six [QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss|] Hotchkiss guns in single mounts, three on each broadside. They were fitted with two single rotating mounts for torpedo tubes on the centerline, one between the funnels and the other on the stern.

Construction and career

Carabine 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 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. 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.