Laid down by Chantiers Schneider et Cie at Chalon-sur-Saône, France, on 6 January 1928[2][3] with the pennant number NN7, she was launched on 8 August 1929.

[2][3] When World War II began with Nazi Germany′s invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, Aréthuse was undergoing a refit at Toulon, France, while stationed at Bizerte in Tunisia as part of the 17th Submarine Division in the 6th Squadron, a component of the 4th Flotilla in Maritime Prefecture IV.

On 9 December 1940, the 17th Submarine Division — now reduced to Aréthuse, La Sultane, and La Vestale — departed Toulon in company with the submarine Archimède and the Élan-class sloop-of-war Commandant Bory bound for Casablanca in French Morocco, which they reached on 16 December.

[2] On 12 September 1941, Aréthuse and La Sultane departed Casablanca bound for Safi, where they arrived at the end of the day.

As a unit of the Free French Naval Forces, Aréthuse was at the submarine base at Oran in Algeria on 1 April 1943.

[2] On 10 January 1943, the British submarine HMS Unseen had torpedoed the Vichy French 6,672-gross register ton steam cargo ship SS Dalny, which then ran aground on the coast of Sardinia near Porto Cervo at 41°08′N 009°32′E / 41.133°N 9.533°E / 41.133; 9.533 (SS Dalny); Unseen had again torpedoed the stranded ship on 11 January 1943.

The Royal Netherlands Navy submarine HNLMS Dolfijn later torpedoed the wreck of Dalny at 12:00 on 15 September 1943,[2] one source placing this attack off Corsica.

[2] On 28 September 1943, Aréthuse disembarked five agents and picked up seven (including Colonel Henri Zeller) at Cap Camarat on the coast of Southern France.

[2] On 9 January 1944, the British submarine HMS Unseen departed Algiers in Algeria and with Aréthuse made a passage to Gibraltar as part of Convoy MKS 36.

[2] Based at Dakar, she performed services at the sound schools at Freetown in Sierra Leone and at Takoradi on the Gold Coast.