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Class overview
Name	Arabe class
Builders	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal; Kure Naval Arsenal; Sasebo Naval Arsenal; Maizuru Naval Arsenal; Kawasaki, Kobe; Mitsubishi, Nagasaki;
Operators	French Navy
Preceded by	Aventurier class
Succeeded by	Enseigne Gabolde
Built	1917
In service	1917–1936
In commission	1917–1936
Completed	12
Scrapped	12
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	685 t (674 long tons)
Length	82.26 m (269 ft 11 in) (o/a); 79.4 m (260 ft 6 in) (p/p);
Beam	7.33 m (24 ft 1 in)
Draft	2.39 m (7 ft 10 in)
Installed power	4 Kampon water-tube boilers; 10,000 PS (7,400 kW; 9,900 shp);
Propulsion	3 shafts; 3 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range	2,000 nmi (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	86
Armament	1 × single 120 mm (4.7 in) gun; 4 × single 76 mm (3.0 in) guns; 2 × twin 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes;

The Arabe-class destroyers was a group of twelve destroyers built for the French Navy during the First World War. All the ships were built in Japan as an export version of the Kaba class, and were named after ethnic groups within the French Empire at the time.

Design and description

The French Navy ordered the Arabe-class ships from Japan as it was in desperate need of additional destroyers and there was no capacity to build more in France, Great Britain or the United States. They had an overall length of 82.26 meters (269 ft 11 in), a length between perpendiculars of 79.4 meters (260 ft 6 in) a beam of 7.33 meters (24 ft 1 in), and a draft of 2.39 meters (7 ft 10 in).^[1] The ships displaced 865 metric tons (851 long tons) at normal load.^[2] They were powered by three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four mixed-firing Kampon Yarrow-type boilers. The engines were designed to produce 10,000 metric horsepower (7,400 kW; 9,900 shp), which would propel the ships at 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph). During their sea trials, the Arabe class reached 29.16–30.44 knots (54.00–56.37 km/h; 33.56–35.03 mph).^[3] The ships carried 102 metric tons (100 long tons) of coal and 118 metric tons (116 long tons) of fuel oil which gave them a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).^[4] Their crew consisted of 5 officers and 104 crewmen.^[5]

The main armament of the Arabe-class ships was a single Type 41 12-centimeter (4.7 in) gun, mounted before the bridge on the forecastle. Their secondary armament consisted of four Type 41 76-millimeter (3.0 in) guns in single mounts; two of these were positioned abreast the middle funnel and the others were on the centerline further aft. One of these latter guns was on a high-angle mount and served as an anti-aircraft gun. The ships carried two above-water twin mounts for 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes. In 1917–18, a rack for eight 75-kilogram (165 lb) depth charges was added.^[6]

Ships

Algérien — launched 1917, struck 1936.
Annamite — launched 1917, struck 1933.
Arabe — launched 1917, struck 1936.
Bambara — launched 1917, struck 1933.
Hova — launched 1917, struck 1936.
Kabyle — launched 1917, struck 1936.
Marocain — launched 1917, struck 1935.
Sakalave — launched 1917, struck 1936.
Sénégalais — launched 1917, struck 1936.
Somali — launched 1917, struck 1935.
Tonkinois — launched 1917, struck 1936.
Touareg — launched 1917, struck 1935.

Citations

^ Garier, p. 33
^ Smigielski, p. 205
^ Garier, pp. 34, 36
^ Couhat, p. 118
^ Garier, p. 37
^ Garier, pp. 36–37

References

Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
Garier, Gérard (March 2001). "Les torpilleurs d'escadre français de construction japonaise: Le type 'Algérien' (1917 / 1936)". Navires & Historie. 06. Lela Presse: 33–51. ISSN 1280-4290.
Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). "Classement par types". Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 2, 1870 - 2006. Toulon: Roche. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
Smigielski, Adam (1985). "France". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 190–220. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.