The Arquebuse class was designed as a faster version of the preceding s. The ships had an overall length of 56.58sp=usNaNsp=us,[1] a beam of 6.38m (20.93feet), and a maximum draft of 3.2m (10.5feet).[2] They normally displaced 307sp=usNaNsp=us and at deep load. The two vertical triple-expansion steam engines each drove one propeller shaft using steam provided by two du Temple Guyot boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of 6300ihp[1] for a designed speed of 28kn,[3] all the ships exceeded their contracted speed during their sea trials. Pistolet reached a speed of from during her sea trials on 23 July 1903.[1] The ships carried enough coal to give them a range of 2300nmi at .[2] Their crew consisted of four officers and fifty-eight enlisted men.[1]
The main armament of the Arquebuse-class ships consisted of a single Canon de Modèle 1891 gun forward of the bridge and six 47adj=onNaNadj=on Hotchkiss guns in single mounts, three on each broadside. They were fitted with two single rotating mounts for 381mm torpedo tubes on the centerline, one between the funnels amidships and the other on the stern.[1]
Pistolet (Pistol) was ordered from Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire on 22 May 1901 and the ship was laid down in September at its shipyard in Nantes. She was launched on 29 May 1903 and conducted her sea trials from June to August that year. The ship was commissioned on 21 September after their completion. She was assigned to the Northern Squadron before completion, on 9 September, to replace the old destroyer . She was shortly thereafter transferred to the Far East Squadron (French: escadre de l'Extrême-Orient) based in French Indochina, arriving there in April 1904. She traveled there in company with the protected cruiser and several other Arquebuse-class destroyers.[4]
In June 1905, the destroyer was assigned to the newly formed 2nd China Sea Torpedo Boat Flotilla (French: 2<sup>e</sup> Flotille des torpilleurs des mers de Chine) of the renamed Naval Division of the Far East (French: Division navale de l'Extrême-Orient).[5] In 1911 the division consisted of the armored cruisers and, the old torpedo cruiser, two other destroyers, six torpedo boats, and four submarines, along with a number of smaller vessels.[6]
At the start of World War I in August 1914, the division included Pistolet, along with the armored cruisers and Dupleix, D'Iberville, and the destroyers, and . The unit was based in Saigon in French Indochina. The destroyers and D'Iberville were initially sent to patrol the Strait of Malacca while the armored cruisers were sent north to join the search for the German East Asia Squadron.[7] D'Iberville and the destroyers conducted patrols in the strait for the German unprotected cruiser, which was known to be passing through the area at the time; the French ships failed to locate the German vessel.[8]
Pistolet was present in the harbor at George Town, Penang, on 27 October, moored alongside her sister Fronde. The other major Triple Entente ships in the harbor included D'Iberville and the Russian protected cruiser . In the early hours of 28 October, the German light cruiser entered the harbor to attack the Entente vessels there. In the ensuing Battle of Penang, Emden quickly torpedoed and sank Zhemchug before turning to flee. As the German ship departed, she encountered and sank Mousquet. Unlike the other French warships, Pistolet could not open fire on the raider, as she was moored inboard of Fronde and could not bring her guns to bear.[9]
In 1915, Pistolet received new boilers at Saigon. She returned home later that year, arriving back in Toulon on 19 January 1916. The ship was then assigned to the Western Mediterranean Patrol Division, where she operated for the next two years. On 21 May, she arrived in Toulon having escorted the submarine from Brindisi, Italy.[10] The war having ended in November 1918, Pistolet was struck from the naval register on 30 October 1919 and eventually sold to ship breakers in Toulon on 6 May 1920.[11]