The Chacal class was assigned convoy escort duties after the start of World War II in September 1939 until three of them were committed to the English Channel after the Battle of France began on 10 May 1940.

All three of the ships in Toulon were placed in reserve and two of them were captured virtually intact when the Germans attempted to seize the French fleet in November 1942.

The Italians scuttled one, but the other escaped to join the Free French and spent the remainder of the war as a convoy escort in the Mediterranean or protecting Allied forces in the Ligurian Sea.

In the meantime, the British had turned Léopard over to the Free French who used her as a convoy escort before she helped to liberate the island of La Réunion in late 1942.

This required high speed in all weather, good endurance and a powerful armament capable of engaging small cruisers.

A double bottom covered most of the ships' length and the hull was subdivided by 11 transverse bulkheads into a dozen watertight compartments.

[5] The raised forecastle and the prominent sheer and flare of the bow ensured that the Chacal-class ships were good seaboats, but they proved to be topheavy with poor lateral stability despite 40-meter-long (130 ft) bilge keels.

Furthermore, they were not very maneuverable because the 14.44-square-meter (155.4 sq ft) rudder was too small and its servomotor too weak (taking 25–30 seconds to move from one side to the other).

During their sea trials, the turbines generated 54,850–57,810 metric horsepower (40,340–42,520 kW; 54,100–57,020 shp) and they reached a maximum speed of 36.7 knots (68.0 km/h; 42.2 mph) for a single hour.

Development of the director was abandoned and the ships were fitted with a 3-meter (9 ft 10 in) Mle B.1926 coincidence rangefinder that fed data to the computers.

[11] The anti-aircraft armament of the Chacal class consisted of two 50-caliber Canon de 75 mm modèle 1924 guns in single mounts positioned amidships.

In 1932, the navy decided that the ships were too top-heavy to accept a director for the guns so they were to be replaced by four twin mounts for Hotchkiss 13.2-millimeter (0.5 in) anti-aircraft machineguns.

Combat operations in 1939 had shown the French that their anti-aircraft defenses were inadequate and they planned to augment them beginning in 1940 by replacing the mainmast with a platform for a twin-gun mount for the 37 mm (1.5 in) light AA gun.

They were also fitted with four depth-charge throwers abreast the fore funnel for which they carried a dozen Guiraud Mle 1922 100-kilogram (220 lb) depth charges.

The Walser compartment was reused when a British Type 123 ASDIC system was installed aboard the ships in 1939–40, although Panthère did not receive one.

[21] Jaguar, Léopard and Panthère were assigned to the Northern Command (Forces maritimes du Nord) on 7 September in anticipation of a German invasion of Belgium.

They proved, however, to be too large and unmaneuverable for operations in the shallow waters of the English Channel and North Sea; Panthère ran aground on 10 September in poor visibility, but suffered only minor damage, and Jaguar did the same thing on the night of 28/29 October.

Jaguar, Léopard and Chacal were assigned to the Northern Command on 22 May to support Allied forces on the French coast.

[26] In July 1940, Lynx and Tigre were present when the British attacked the French ships at Mers-el-Kébir, but managed to escape without damage.

[27] After they reaching Toulon, the sisters were placed in reserve, together with Panthère, as the oldest contre-torpilleurs in service and stripped of their light anti-aircraft armament.

[29] Tigre resumed her former name and was given to the Free French the following month, but she needed extensive repairs that lasted until early 1944.