Beagle carried a maximum of 390 long tons (400 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[12] Beagle was completed on 9 April 1931[13] at a cost of £220,342, excluding items supplied by the Admiralty such as guns, ammunition and communications equipment.

The flotilla was reassigned to the Home Fleet in September 1936 and the ship began a refit at Devonport after arriving on 27 August that lasted until 16 January 1937.

Beagle then became the plane guard for the carrier Argus during which she collided with her sister ship Basilisk and required a month's worth of repairs in April–May.

[14] Commanded by Lt. Royston Hollis Wright,[15] Beagle was transferred to the 19th Destroyer Flotilla at the beginning of the war and spent her time until April 1940 escorting convoys and patrolling in the English Channel and the North Sea aside from yet another dockyard period from 18 December 1939 to 22 January 1940.

Beagle's repairs at Devonport lasted until 16 August and the ship was transferred to the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla upon their completion where she served in the English Channel.

While under repair for weather damage that broke her foremast in October, a Type 271 target indication radar was installed above the bridge that replaced her director-control tower and rangefinder.

After the ship was more extensively damaged by weather two months later, Beagle was converted into an escort destroyer, a process that lasted until April 1942.

[9] After a refit to improve her radar, anti-submarine equipment, and Arctic habitability, Beagle was ordered to Freetown, Sierra Leone in early 1943 where she served as a local escort until November.

On 8 June the destroyer rescued 250 survivors from two United States Navy tank landing ships that were sunk 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Barfleur during passage of Convoy ECM1P after an E-boat attack.

She began a refit on 19 July at Sheerness Dockyard that lasted until September and, commanded by Lt. Charles Douglas Theodore Williams[15] rejoined the 8th Escort Group.

[9] The ship arrived in the Channel Islands and landed at St Helier on Jersey on 9 May 1945 and accepted the German forces' unconditional surrender.

Two members of the crew were met by the harbourmaster, who escorted them to his office where they together hoisted the Union Flag, before also raising it on the flagstaff of the Pomme D'Or Hotel.