Design and description
The ''Bouclier''s were the first ship class, class of destroyers designed in response to a new doctrine for their use. Nearly double the size of previous classes and more powerfully armed, they were built to a general specification and each shipyard was allowed to determine the best way to meet that specification. ''Fourche'' and her sister ship, sister were built by the same shipyard and had an overall length of , a beam (nautical), beam of , and a draft (hull), draft of . ''Fourche'' Displacement (ship), displaced slightly less than her sister at at normal load. Their crew numbered 4 officers and 77 men. The sisters were powered by a pair of Auguste Rateau, Rateau steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four du Temple boilers. The engines were designed to produce which was intended to give the ships a speed of . During her sea trials, ''Fourche'' handily exceed that speed, reaching a speed of .Roberts, p. 392 The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at cruising speeds of . The primary armament of the ''Bouclier''-class ships consisted of two Canon de 100 mm Modèle 1891, Modèle 1893 guns in single mounts, one each fore and aft of the superstructure, and four Canon de 65 mm Modèle 1891, Modèle 1902 guns distributed amidships. They were also fitted with two twin mounts for torpedo tubes amidships, one on each broadside (naval), broadside.Construction and career
''Fourche'' was ordered on 26 August 1908 as part of the 1908 naval program from Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne, Établissement de la Brosse et Fouché. She was laid down at the company's shipyard at Nantes, Brittany, in 1909. The ship was Ceremonial ship launching, launched on 21 October 1910 and transferred to Lorient on 13 May 1911 in preparation for her sea trials. ''Fourche'' was Ship commissioning, commissioned for her trials on 20 July and fully commissioned on 4 December 1911. The ship arrived at Toulon on 24 March 1912 and was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla () of the 1st Naval Army on 1 April. When the First World War began in August 1914, ''Fourche'' was still assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Naval Army. During the preliminary stages of the Battle of Antivari, Kingdom of Montenegro, Montenegro, on 16 August, the 1st, 4th and 5th Destroyer Flotillas were tasked to escort the core of the 1st Naval Army while the 2nd, 3rd and 6th Flotillas escorted the armored cruisers of the 2nd Light Squadron () and two British cruisers. After reuniting both groups and spotting the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser and the destroyer , the French destroyers played no role in sinking the cruiser, although the 4th Flotilla was sent on an unsuccessful pursuit of ''Ulan''. Having broken the Austro-Hungarian blockade of Bar, Montenegro, Antivari (now known as Bar), Vice-Admiral () Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the 1st Naval Army, decided to ferry troops and supplies to the port using a small requisitioned passenger ship, , escorted by the 2nd Light Squadron, reinforced by the armored cruiser , and escorted by the destroyer with the 1st and 6th Destroyer Flotillas under command while the rest of the 1st Naval Army bombarded the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro, Montenegro, on 1 September. Four days later, the fleet covered the evacuation of Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro, aboard ''Bouclier'', to the Greek island of Corfu. The flotilla escorted multiple small convoys loaded with supplies and equipment to Antivari, beginning in October and lasting for the rest of the year, always covered by the larger ships of the Naval Army in futile attempts to lure the Austro-Hungarian fleet into battle. Amidst these missions, the 1st and 6th Flotillas were led by the as they conducted a sweep south of Cattaro on the night of 10/11 November in an unsuccessful search for Austro-Hungarian destroyers. The torpedoing of the on 21 December caused a change in French tactics as the battleships were too important to risk to submarine attack. Henceforth, only the destroyers would escort the transports, covered by cruisers at a distance of from the transports. The first convoy of 1915 to Antivari arrived on 11 January and more were made until the last one on 20–21 April. After Italy signed the Treaty of London (1915), Treaty of London and declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 23 May, Boué de Lapeyrère reorganized his forces in late June to cover the approaches to the Adriatic and interdict merchant shipping of the Central Powers since the Royal Italian Navy () now had primary responsibility for the Adriatic itself. His area of responsibility extended from Sardinia to Crete and he divided it into two zones with the 1st Light Squadron assigned to the western zone and the 2nd Light Squadron in the east. Those destroyers of the 1st Naval Army not assigned to reinforce the Italians were transferred to the newly formed 1st and 2nd Flotillas of the Naval Army (). The 1st and 3rd Destroyer Flotillas were assigned to the 2nd Flotilla of the Naval Army, of which ‘'Dehorter'’ was the flagship, which was tasked to support the cruisers of the 2nd Light Division. The 1st Destroyer Flotilla was assigned to the 1st Division of Destroyers and Submarines () of the 2nd Squadron () based at Brindisi, Italy in December. ''Fourche'' covered the evacuation of the Royal Serbian Army from Durazzo on 23–26 February 1916 and was unsuccessfully attacked by the Austro-Hungarian submarine on 24 April. The destroyer was part of the covering force for an attack on the Albanian port of Medova by two Italian MAS (motorboat), MAS boats on the night of 15/16 June. The following week, the Austro-Hungarian submarine torpedoed the Italian auxiliary cruiser on 23 June, east of Otranto, Italy, and then sank ''Fourche'' with a single torpedo as the destroyer attempted to rescue survivors from ''Città di Messina''. Although the ship broke in half only 19 men were killed when she sank at coordinates .References
Bibliography
* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fourche Bouclier-class destroyers Ships built in France 1910 ships Maritime incidents in 1916 Ships sunk by Austro-Hungarian submarines World War I shipwrecks in the Adriatic Sea