The 1895 shipbuilding programme for the French Navy included two sea-going torpedo boats similar to the Aquilon (length 137 feet 9 inches, beam 14 feet 9 inches, draught 5 feet 6 inches; displacement 123 tons), five first-class torpedo boats similar to Torpedo Boat No. 200 (length 121 feet 6 inches, beam 13 feet 9 inches; draught 4 feet), and five aluminium torpedo boats similar to the one constructed for the French Navy by Yarrow and Co. of Poplar, in 1894.