French destroyer Épieu

Épieu 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 initially 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 Épieu 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.

Épieu was ordered from Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée on 7 November 1900 and the ship was laid down later that year at its shipyard in Le Havre-Graville. She was launched on 17 January 1903 and conducted her sea trials during March–June 1903. The ship was commissioned the following month after their completion and was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron.
When the First World War began in August 1914, Épiue was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla of the 2nd Light Squadron based at Cherbourg.