[2] The engines were designed to produce 15,000 shaft horsepower (11,000 kW) which was intended to give the ships a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph).

[3] The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1,450 nautical miles (2,690 km; 1,670 mi) at a cruising speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).

Having broken the Austro-Hungarian blockade of Antivari (now known as Bar), Vice-Admiral (Vice-amiral) 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, SS Liamone, escorted by the 2nd Light Squadron, reinforced by the armored cruiser Ernest Renan, and escorted by the destroyer Bouclier 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.

[14][15] On 5 August the Austrian submarine U-3 made an unsuccessful attack on the Italian armed merchant cruiser Citta di Catania.

Allied naval forces sortied from Brindisi in response, including five French destroyers (Bisson, Casque, Commandant Bory,Commandant Lucas and Renaudin), two British cruisers (Dartmouth and Weymouth), two Italian cruisers (Quarto and Nino Bixio) and four Italian destroyers.

The French and Italian destroyers set off in pursuit of the Austro-Hungarian ships, but broke off the chase as they neared the Austrian base of Cattaro (now Kotor).

Bisson was part of a group of four Italian and French warships patrolling North of the Barrage line to protect it against attacks.

[23] Bisson rescued the crew of an Italian flying boat, that had forced to ditch by engine trouble, before she, together with the rest of the Mirabello group, was ordered to join up with Dartmouth and Bristol.

However, first Mirabello briefly lost power owing to contamination of fuel, then Commandant Rivière suffered engine failure.