Branlebas was the name ship of her class of destroyers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.
During World War I, Branlebas struck a mine and sank in the North Sea between Dunkirk, France, and Nieuwpoort, Belgium, on 30 September 1915.
Design The Branlebas-class was a development of the previous , and was the final evolution of the 300-tonne type which the French had built since 1899, with their first destroyer class, the . Like all the 300-tonne destroyers, the Branlebas class had a turtledeck forecastle with a flying deck, raised above the hull, aft.
They were long between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and a maximum draught of . Displacement was . Two coal-fired Normand or Du Temple boilers fed steam to two triple-expansion steam engines, rated at , and driving two propeller shafts, giving a design speed of . The ships had a range of at .
A belt of armour was fitted to protect the ship's boilers and machinery from splinters. The class was built with the standard gun armament for the 300-tonne destroyers, with a single forward, backed up by six guns, while two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes were carried. The ships had a complement of 4 officers and 56 men.
Construction and service Branlebas was laid down at the Le Havre shipyard of Chantiers et Ateliers A. Normand in November 1905 and was launched on 8 October 1910. She reached a speed of during sea trials.
When the First World War began in August 1914, Branlebas was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla () of the 2nd Light Squadron ()Prévoteaux, Tome I, p. 34 based at Cherbourg.
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