The new destroyers were supposed to accompany the Dunkerque-class battlecruisers and oppose the German pocket battleships. To achieve these goals, the project provided four dual-purpose 138.6 mm mounts. Upon their commissioning, these ships were the newest destroyers in the French Navy at the beginning of World War II. On July 3, 1940, during Operation Catapult, Mogador was hit by a 381 mm shell that inflicted heavy damage.