Fougueux helped to escort an incomplete battleship away from Metropolitan France to prevent its capture by the Germans the following month.

Fougueux was sunk during the Naval Battle of Casablanca in November 1942 as the Allies invaded French North Africa during Operation Torch.

For defense against strafing aircraft the ships were equipped with a pair of mounts for two or four 8-millimeter (0.315 in) Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine guns abreast the bridge.

In addition two Thornycroft depth-charge throwers were fitted at the end of the forecastle for which six 100-kilogram (220 lb) depth charges were carried.

[2] The French Navy decided to convert some of the L'Adroit-class ships to fast fleet minesweepers to clear the path of the main battlefleet in 1933 and two paravanes were installed aboard Fougueux in 1934.

While under repair in June 1940, Fougueux had a single 25-millimeter (1 in) Hotchkiss Modèle 1939 AA gun installed on the rear superstructure and the mainmast was removed to clear the weapon's firing arc and reduce top weight.

After the French armistice with Germany, the paravanes were removed and the two depth charge throwers were repositioned to the stern and another pair was added.

[5] Fougueux was ordered on 3 May 1927 as part of the 1926 Naval Program[6] and laid down on 21 September by Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne at its shipyard in Nantes.

Fougueux was transferred to the 2nd Squadron based at Brest on 27 July 1935 and assigned to the newly formed 2nd Torpedo Division on 1 October.

On 29 March 1940, the ship's ASDIC set detected a submarine and Fougueux attacked the contact with depth charges, but it was almost certainly a sunken wreck.

Fougueux and Frondeur escorted the incomplete battleship Richelieu from Brest to Casablanca, French Morocco, from 18 to 20 June.

They encountered only an unidentified British destroyer and all of Épée's guns malfunctioned after firing a total of only 14 rounds while Fleuret's fire-control director brokedown entirely.

On 8 April Fougueux responded to a distress call broadcast by the banana boat SS Fort de France as she was being boarded by sailors from the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Bulolo.

[15] As Operation Torch began before dawn on 8 November, the Americans launched an amphibious landing east of Fedala, French Morocco.

Rear Admiral Gervais de Lafond was commanding the squadron and he ordered it to reverse course around 0840, upon spotting the heavy cruiser Augusta, and hoping to lure it within range of the immobile battleship Jean Bart and coast-defense guns.

[16] Task Group 34.1, consisting of the battleship Massachusetts and her consorts, the heavy cruisers Tuscaloosa and Wichita, had finally been alerted to the French sortie and were rapidly approaching the 2nd Destroyer Division by 0900.

[19] The aviso La Grandière exited the harbor at 1006 and attempted to rescue Fougueux's survivors, but she was engaged by Tuscaloosa as soon as she was spotted by the American heavy cruiser.