The Arquebuse class was designed as a faster version of the preceding Durandal class. The ships had an overall length of 56.58 meters (185 ft 8 in),^[1] a beam of 6.3 meters (20 ft 8 in), and a maximum draft of 3.2 meters (10 ft 6 in).^[2] They normally displaced 307 metric tons (302 long tons) and 357 t (351 long tons) at deep load. The two vertical triple-expansion steam engines each drove one propeller shaft using steam provided by two du Temple Guyot or Normand boilers. The engines were designed to produce a total of 6,300 indicated horsepower (4,700 kW)^[1] for a designed speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph),^[3] all the ships exceeded their contracted speed during their sea trials, although Mousqueton was the slowest ship of her class at 28.8 knots (53.3 km/h; 33.1 mph).^[1] They carried enough coal to give them a range of 2,300 nautical miles (4,300 km; 2,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).^[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 65-millimeter (2.6 in) gun forward of the bridge and six 47-millimeter (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns in single mounts, three on each broadside. They were fitted with two single rotating mounts for 381-millimeter (15 in) torpedo tubes on the centerline, one between the funnels and the other on the stern.^[1]

Mosqueton (Musketoon) was ordered from Schneider et Cie on 29 May 1901 and the ship was laid down later that year at its shipyard in Chalons-sur-Saône. She was launched on 4 November 1902 and conducted her sea trials from September 1903 to May 1904. The ship was commissioned (armée definitif) after their completion and was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron.^[4]

On 7 July 1914, Mousqueton collided with and sank the French submarine Calypso in the Mediterranean Sea off Toulon, France. Calypso's entire crew of 26 was rescued.^[5]

When the First World War began in August 1914, Mousqueton was a leader (divisionnaire) in the 2nd Submarine and Destroyer Flotilla (2^e escadrille sous-marins et torpilleurs) of the 1st Naval Army (1^ère Armée navale),^[6] based at Bizerte, French Tunisia.^[4]

According to a British report of 5 June, Mousqueton and the destroyers Voltigeur and Hache were assigned to patrol the area around Cape Matapan, Greece.^[7]

• Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
• Monograph No. 21: The Mediterranean 1914–1915 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. VIII. The Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1923.
• Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome I 1914–1915 [The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book I 1914–1915]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 23. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN 978-2-37468-000-2.
• Prévoteaux, Gérard (2017). La marine française dans la Grande guerre: les combattants oubliés: Tome II 1916–1918 [The French Navy during the Great War: The Forgotten Combatants, Book II 1916–1918]. Collection Navires & Histoire des Marines du Mond. Vol. 27. Le Vigen, France: Éditions Lela presse. ISBN 978-2-37468-001-9.
• Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
• Stanglini, Ruggero & Cosentino, Michelle (2022). The French Fleet: Ships, Strategy and Operations, 1870-1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-0131-2.