She was active in attacking the Arctic convoys ferrying war materials to the Soviet Union in 1941–1942 but only helped to sink one Allied ship.

She finished working up on 26 June 1941 and sailed for Norway, but ran aground off Haugesund, damaging both propellers, and had to return to Bremen for repairs.

After arriving in Kirkenes, the ship replaced Z26 as the flagship of Kapitän zur See (Captain) Hans Erdmenger, commander of the flotilla, as the latter destroyer had engine problems and had to return to Germany for repairs.

The Germans thought that they were Soviet destroyers, but they were actually two British minesweepers, Hazard and Speedy, sailing to rendezvous with Convoy QP 6.

[9] On the 29th, Z25 sailed from Kirkenes to rendezvous with the destroyer Z7 Hermann Schoemann at Vlissingen, the Netherlands, before continuing onward together to Brest, France, where they arrived on 7 February as part of the preparations for the Channel Dash.

Shortly afterwards, the ship joined four other destroyers in escorting the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and Admiral Scheer to Trondheim.

Heavy weather forced three of the destroyers to return to port before reaching their destination and Prinz Eugen was badly damaged by a British submarine after their separation.

[10] On 6 March, Tirpitz, escorted by Z25 and three other destroyers, sortied to attack the returning Convoy QP 8 and the Russia-bound PQ 12 as part of Operation Sportpalast (Sports Palace).

The following morning, Admiral Otto Ciliax, commanding the operation, ordered the destroyers to search independently for Allied ships and they stumbled across the 2,815-gross register ton (GRT) Soviet freighter SS Ijora, a straggler from QP 8, later that afternoon and sank her.

Tirpitz rejoined them shortly afterwards and Ciliax ordered the destroyers back to Trondheim on the 8th after failing to refuel them the previous night due to heavy seas and icing.

Between them the destroyers fired 19 torpedoes at the cruiser, all of which missed after Trinidad turned away, and hit her twice with their 15 cm guns, inflicting only minor damage.

Eclipse was maneuvering to give the German destroyer the coup de grâce with a torpedo when the snowstorm ended and visibility increased, revealing Z24 and Z25 approaching.

[14] On 30 April German submarine U-456 torpedoed and crippled the light cruiser Edinburgh, part of the close escort for Convoy QP 11.

The German ships were only able to sink the 2,847 GRT freighter, SS Tsiolkovsky, with torpedoes from Z24 and Z25, and badly damage the escort destroyer Amazon with gunfire.

Her sister Foresight passed in front of Forester a few minutes later to draw the attention of Z24 and Z25, which succeeded all too well as she was hit four times by 07:24, disabling the engines and leaving her with only a single gun operable.

In Operation Zauberflote (Magic Flute), Z25, the destroyer Z5 Paul Jacobi, and two torpedo boats escorted the badly damaged Prinz Eugen from Trondheim to Kiel from 16–18 May.

In February 1943, she sailed to Germany in preparation for continuing onward to France, but engine problems caused that plan to be cancelled on 5 March.

While running sea trials in Danzig Bay, the shock wave from a nearby mine explosion disabled her port turbine and required further repairs.

Zerstörerflotille, Z25 and the other three destroyers of the flotilla were transferred to the Gulf of Finland to support minelaying operations there, Z25 arriving at Reval, Estonia, on 13 February 1944.

Zerstörerflotille and supported Lützow and Prinz Eugen as they engaged Soviet positions in Sworbe, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, between 19 and 24 November.

She was refitted in December and then bombarded Soviet troops east and south of Königsberg, together with Prinz Eugen and two torpedo boats on 29–30 January 1945 and again on 2–5 February to allow cut-off German Army units to break through into friendly territory.

A month later, Z25 and Z5 Paul Jacobi escorted the ocean liner Potsdam, the troopship SS Goya and the target ship Canonier as they ferried 22,000 refugees to Copenhagen, Denmark, on 26 March.

The ship was assigned to the 1st Division of Large Destroyers (contre-torpilleurs) and entered service in September when she conducted training with the light carrier Arromanches.

In March–June 1947, she formed part of the escort for the battleship Richelieu as the President of France, Vincent Auriol, visited West and North Africa.

From 1950 to 1953, the ship was rebuilt into a escorteur rapide (fast escort destroyer) with new weapons and electronics and was based in Toulon for anti-submarine trials.