HMS Avon was a Vickers three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1895–1896 Naval Estimates.

[6] In early March 1902 she was at Chatham for repairs, after encountering a heavy gale during a cruise,[7] and the following month she was paid off and her crew transferred to the destroyer Swordfish.

[9] On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'.

After 30 September 1913, she was known as a C-class destroyer and had the letter ‘C’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.

In November 1916 she deployed to the Irish Sea Hunting Flotilla until the cessation of hostilities, providing anti-submarine and counter-smuggling patrols following the Easter Uprising of 1916 in Dublin.