The "Chacal" class was powered by two geared steam turbine sets, each driving a propeller, using steam provided by five du Temple boilers that operated at a pressure of and a temperature of . Four ships were fitted with Rateau-Bretagne turbines that were satisfactory once the initial teething problems were worked out, but and used Breguet-Laval turbines that were very troublesome and caused "Léopard" to be enter service two years late. The turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ships at . During their sea trials, the turbines generated and they reached a maximum speed of for a single hour. The ships carried of fuel oil which gave them a range of at . Fuel consumption at high speeds was excessive and the range was only at . The ships were fitted with two turbo generators in the forward engine room. In addition, two diesel generators, one of and the other of capacity, were located in the central superstructure.