During the Second World War, their unsatisfactory reliability and poor seakeeping abilities had them soon relegated to second-line duties in the Baltic Sea.

They were also used as a test bed class for a new high-pressure steam power plant intended for use in destroyers.

As a class, they were overloaded and over-engined, which contributed to severe hull stress and very poor sea-keeping characteristics; these flaws were partially remedied by extensive rebuilds between 1938 and 1940.

With the exception of fleet service and convoy duties between 1939 and 1941, they spent most of the war in use as tenders or U-boat training ships.

One was claimed to be the craft sunk in Tobruk Harbour by Native Military Corps Lance Corporal Job Maseko on July 21 1942, as a POW consigned to work as stevedore by the occupying Axis forces, for which he was eventually awarded the Military Medal, however none of this class were in the Mediterranean.