When war was declared in September 1939, all of the Le Fantasques were assigned to the Force de Raid which was tasked to hunt down German commerce raiders and blockade runners.

Le Terrible and two of her sister ships were based in Dakar, French West Africa, to patrol the Central Atlantic for several months in late 1939.

They returned to Metropolitan France before the end of the year and were transferred to French Algeria in late April 1940 in case Italy decided to enter the war.

During her sea trials on 22 January 1935, her turbines provided 90,868 PS (66,833 kW; 89,625 shp) and she reached 43.8 knots (81.1 km/h; 50.4 mph) for a single hour.

The crew of the Le Fantasque class consisted of 11 officers and 221 crewmen in peacetime and the number of the latter increased to 254 in wartime.

After the war began, depth-charge stowage increased to 48 and a pair of rails were installed on the stern for 35-kilogram (77 lb) depth charges.

In May the ship was provided with an Alpha-2 sonar system in cases pending the modification of the hull to accommodate the required flexible underwater dome.

[7] Ordered on 20 June 1931 as part of the 1930 Naval Program, Le Terrible's hull was laid down on 8 December 1931 by Chantiers Navals Français at their shipyard in Blainville-sur-Orne and it was then towed to Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire's Nantes shipyard for completion to help keep the former company in business.

[10] During 21–30 October, the Force de Raid, including all of the Le Fantasques, screened Convoy KJ 4 against a possible attack by the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee.

[13] In anticipation of an Italian declaration of war, the Force de Raid, including Le Terrible, assembled in Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, on 5–9 April, only to return to Brest when the Germans invaded Norway on the 10th.

She took part in a sortie by the Force de Raid into the Western Mediterranean on 12–13 June, after Italy declared war on the Allies on the 10th.

The sisters steamed to Casablanca, French Morocco, where their light anti-aircraft guns were removed, on 21 January 1943 and then to the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston to be modernized.

Arriving on 21 February, Le Terrible's refit lasted until 22 May and included the addition of a license-built Alpha 128 ASDIC system, installation of SA early-warning and SF surface search radars, the removal of her aft torpedo tubes and the conversion of some boiler feedwater tanks to fuel oil to improve her range.

Despite the modernization work in Boston, the ships' turbines were prone to frequent breakdowns during heavy use and required a lot of maintenance.

On the night of 13/14 September, Le Terrible helped to landed 500 troops at Ajaccio, along with 60 long tons (61 t) of supplies,[18] after which the ship was immobilized with turbine problems.

The following month, the sisters conducted two unsuccessful raids searching for German shipping in the Aegean Sea on 19–20 and 22–24 November in conjunction with the British light cruiser Neptune.

The ships were refitted and then transferred to Alexandria, Egypt, to conduct patrols south of Crete and in the Aegean in April where they had no engagements.

Le Terrible's hull was damaged for a length of 27 meters (89 ft) with four major holes that flooded the aft engine and boiler rooms.

Le Terrible arrived in Brest on 28 August where she was decommissioned on 1 September and was used as a stationary training ship for the Naval Academy.