Fulton was built in the Arsenal de Cherbourg from 1913 to 1920, entered the French Marine Nationale in July 1920 and served until May 1936.

Fulton was ordered in the French fleet's 1914 program as part of the two ship Joessel class.

The ships were designed by Jean Simonot, as a modification of his previous project, Gustave Zédé, using two Parsons steam turbines with a power of 2,000 hp (1,491 kW).

During construction, though, the idea was abandoned and the ships were instead equipped with diesel engines.

She had two shafts powered by two diesel engines built by Schneider-Carels for surface running with a combined total of 2,700 hp (2,013 kW) and two electric motors which together produced 1,640 horsepower (1,220 kilowatts) for submerged propulsion.