Diana carried a maximum of 473 long tons (481 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5,870 nautical miles (10,870 km; 6,760 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[8] The ship was refitted at Sheerness Dockyard between 3 September and 23 October 1934 for service on the China Station with the 8th (later the 21st) Destroyer Flotilla and arrived there in January 1935.

She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in the Red Sea from September 1935 to May 1936 during the Abyssinian Crisis and made port visits in Bombay and East Africa before returning to Hong Kong on 7 August.

[9] With the outbreak of war, Diana and her sisters Duncan, Daring, and Dainty, were assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, arriving there in October.

The ship escorted the carriers HMS Glorious and Furious as the latter flew off RAF Gloster Gladiators fighters to Bardufoss airfield on 21 May.

Ten days later Diana escorted the carriers HMS Ark Royal and Furious during Operation Alphabet, the Allied withdrawal from Norway.

After their completion, Diana was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy to replace HMCS Fraser which had been sunk in a collision on 25 June 1940 with the British anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Calcutta.

[13] Of the 176 men aboard Margaree at the time, six officers and 28 ratings in the stern section, which remained afloat, were rescued by Port Fairy; the other 142 were lost.