Electra carried a maximum of 470 long tons (480 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 6,350 nautical miles (11,760 km; 7,310 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).
[3] She was ordered on 1 November 1932 as part of the 1931 Naval Programme; launched on 15 February 1934 at the Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard at Hebburn, Tyneside.
The costs to build the ship have been given as approximately £300,000 (Janes), £247,000,[4] or £253,350 (excluding the items supplied by the Admiralty such as guns and communications equipment).
The captain of Electra, Lieutenant-Commander Stuart Austen "Sammy" Buss, was the Senior Officer present at the scene so he took charge.
After a boiler cleaning at Rosyth in December 1939, Electra continued escorting convoys and hunting U-boats in the Western Approaches area until April 1940.
A few days later, Electra, being equipped with Two-Speed Destroyer Sweep (TSDS) minesweeping gear, was directed to lead the battleship HMS Warspite into Ofotfjord towards Narvik, clearing a path through the minefields for her.
However, Admiral Sir William Whitworth decided to risk the mines, and left Electra outside, guarding the entrance to the fjord.
After conducting post-refit trials on 31 August, she joined the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet, based at Scapa Flow.
Her first assignment after her repair work was completed was to escort the ships of the 1st Minelaying Squadron, along with the destroyers HMS Jackal, Versatile, and Vimy, during the laying of a deep minefield in NW approaches to Irish Sea (Operation SN41).
After spending a week at sea, including Christmas Day, after the report turned out to be false, she returned to port on New Year's Eve.
A few days after this, Electra was sent into the Arctic for a mission to find surface raiders, returning through the Denmark Strait and refuelling from a cruiser in heavy seas on the way.
The first four months of 1941 saw Electra performing mostly convoy work around the British Isles and Bristol Channel, mostly in cold weather and heavy seas.
Starting on 23 January, Electra participated in Operation Rubble, the escape of several Norwegian merchant ships from Gothenburg, Sweden.
In March, Electra and Inglefield escorted the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth in a search for the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
In mid-May, Electra took part in Operation SN9B, escorting ships of 1st Minelaying Squadron during the laying of mines in the Northern Barrage.
Just after midnight of 21/22 May 1941, Electra sailed along with the destroyers Achates, Antelope, Anthony, Echo, and Icarus, escorting Hood and Prince of Wales to cover the northern approaches.
They were expecting to find many survivors, prepared hot coffee and rum, set up the medical facilities for the casualties, rigged scrambling nets and heaving lines, and placed life belts on the deck where they could be quickly thrown in.
No more survivors were found, only driftwood, debris, clothing, personal effects, broken rafts and a desk drawer filled with documents.
Then in a period of two weeks, she went to Scapa Flow, then made a run down the West Coast of England, then to Ireland, then refuelled at Derry and then escorted a troop convoy into the Atlantic.
On Monday, 20 October 1941, the crew of Electra got word that they, together with Express, would be escorting HMS Prince of Wales to the Far East under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, where the ships would form the nucleus of a new Eastern Fleet intended to deter Japanese aggression.
Two days later, another destroyer, HMS Legion, was detached from a Gibraltar convoy to cover Prince of Wales while Electra and Express refuelled again from a tanker in Ponta del Garda in the Azores.
Some of the convoys that Electra was known to have escorted included: Starting on 3 February, they also had the task of towing the destroyer HMS Isis which had been undergoing refit from Singapore to Java.
On 26 February 1942, Electra arrived at Surabaya from Tanjung Priok, along with HMS Exeter, HMAS Perth, the Dutch light cruiser Java, and the destroyers Jupiter and Encounter.
On 27 February, the striking force left Surabaya, the three British destroyers in the lead, with Electra in the center, Jupiter to port, and Encounter to starboard; followed by the Dutch cruiser De Ruyter, HMS Exeter, USS Houston, HMAS Perth, and HNLMS Java; followed by two Dutch and four American destroyers.
At 1715, Exeter received a hit which destroyed a 4-inch (102 mm) gun mount and then exploded in a boiler room, causing her to lose speed.
During this slugging match, Electra sustained several hits, which knocked out A and X gun mounts, wrecked the electrical system forward, cut off all communications, destroyed a searchlight platform, damaged the after boiler room, and ruptured the main steam line.
3 died in captivity, Stoker Sidney Thomas Eaglestone, Telegraphist Harry Lancelot Friend and Leading Seaman Charles Henry Palmer.
At least 21 survivors were shipped home on the SS Ceramic from Sydney, New South Wales 25 May 1942 to Norfolk, Virginia (via New Zealand and the Panama Canal), to New York 25 July 1942 and onward to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Liverpool on the 14 Aug 1942.
After spending some time recovering in hospital in Australia, at least one of the survivors, Gunner (Torpedoes) Lieutenant Timothy John Cain was put on the liner Nankin, bound for Ceylon, and ultimately, home to Britain.
On 29 March 1947, a stained glass window at St. George's Chapel at the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham, was dedicated to the crew of Electra.