Completed in 1903, the ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée), but was transferred to the Far East the following year.

[1] Fronde (French for "sling") was ordered from Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde on 14 November 1900 and the ship was laid down in January 1901 at its shipyard in Bordeaux-Lormont.

[6] The two destroyers and their sister Pistolet were transferred to the Far East Squadron (Escadre de l'Extrême-Orient) based in French Indochina in April 1904.

[7][8] Fronde was wrecked in the 1906 typhoon that hit Hong Kong; the storm rolled the ship onto the beach, and five of her crew were killed in the accident.

[8] At the start of World War I in August 1914, the Naval Division of the Far East included Fronde, Pistolet and Mousquet, and the armored cruisers Montcalm and Dupleix, along with D'Iberville.

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.

[16] Fronde was present in the harbor at Penang, a British Crown colony, on 27 October 1914, moored alongside her sister Pistolet.

In the early hours of 28 October, the German light cruiser SMS Emden entered the harbor to attack the Entente vessels there.

[5] The ship rescued 45 survivors from the Greek destroyer Doxa after it had been torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the Straits of Messina on 27 June 1917.