Dehorter was one of a dozen s built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.
Design and description The Bouclier class were designed to a general specification and varied significantly from each other in various ways. The ships had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . Designed to displace , they displaced at normal load. Their crew numbered 80–83 men.Smigielski, p. 203
The ships were powered by a pair of Parsons steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The engines were designed to produce which was intended to give the ships a speed of . Dehorter only reached during her sea trials. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at cruising speeds of .Couhat, pp. 101, 104
The primary armament of the Bouclier-class ships consisted of two Modèle 1893 guns in single mounts, one each fore and aft of the superstructure, and four Modèle 1902 guns distributed amidships. They were also fitted with two twin mounts for torpedo tubes amidships.
During World War I, a or anti-aircraft gun, two machine guns, and eight or ten Guiraud-type depth charges were added to the ships. The extra weight severely overloaded the ships and reduced their operational speed to around .
Construction and career Dehorter was ordered from Ateliers et Chantiers de Penhoët and was launched from its Saint-Nazaire shipyard on 18 April 1912. The ship was completed the following year.Couhat, p. 104 When the First World War began in August 1914, Dehorter was the flagship () for the Group of Submarines and Destroyers () of the 1st Naval Army ().Prévoteaux, Tome I, p. 30
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