The Parsons turbines were more economical than the Rateau-Bretagne turbines which gave those ships equipped with them a range of versus at . 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. The main armament of the "Le Fantasque"s consisted of five Canon de Modèle 1929 guns in single mounts, one superfiring pair fore and aft of the superstructure and the fifth gun abaft the aft funnel. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of two Canon de Modèle 1925 guns in single mounts positioned amidships and four Hotchkiss Mitrailleuse de CA Modèle 1929 in two twin-gun mounts aft of the 37 mm mounts. The ships carried three above-water triple sets of torpedo tubes; the aft mount could traverse to both sides, but the forward mounts were positioned one on each broadside. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into their stern; these housed a total of sixteen depth charges with another dozen available in the torpedo magazine. They could also be fitted with rails capable of handling 40 naval mines. In December 1938 – January 1939, the bridge wings were enlarged to accommodate the Hotchkiss machine guns on "Le Terrible", and . After the war began, depth-charge stowage increased to 48 and a pair of rails were installed on the stern for depth charges. Each rail could accommodate 3 depth charges and 15 more were stored in the magazine. In early 1940 twin-gun 37 mm mounts replaced the single-gun mounts and four Browning 13.2-millimeter AA machineguns on single mounts replaced the Hotchkiss machine guns in October–November. One pair was positioned on the bridge wings and the other pair were installed on the quarterdeck. In 1941–1942 the quarterdeck guns were transferred to new platforms on the center superstructure. "Le Terrible" had the aft superstructure remodeled in early 1942 to create a platform atop the aft ammunition hoists and platforms on each side for 37 mm guns. The twin-gun mounts was repositioned on the upper platform and one of the lower platforms while the other one was occupied by a single mount as there was a shortage of twin-gun mounts. 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. 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.