Escapade was assigned to convoy escort and anti-submarine patrol duties in the Western Approaches when World War II began in September 1939, but transferred back to the Home Fleet at the end of the year.

The destroyer returned to the British Isles for continued escort duty, punctuated by Operation Rubble and the hunt for Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in early 1941.

Following her return to duty at the end of 1944, she escorted convoys in the last months of the war, then was used for training before being sold for scrap in 1947.

The turbines developed a total of 36,000 shaft horsepower (26,800 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph).

Escapade 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).

[4] After the accident that destroyed her Hedgehog mount in September 1943, the ship required extensive repairs and the navy took the opportunity to install two new Squid anti-submarine mortars in lieu of 'A' gun.

[5] Escapade, the only ship of that name to serve with the Royal Navy,[6] was ordered 1 November 1932, from Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company under the 1931 Naval Programme.

[7] Escapade and her sister ships were assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla (DF) and accompanied the Home Fleet during its West Indies cruise between January and March 1935.

[9] Escorting convoy HN14 to Norway on 25 February 1940, she spotted the surfaced U-63,[8] but the submarine dived as Escapade approached, after which she made a depth charge attack.

[10] The destroyer served in the Norwegian Campaign from 7 April, when she left Scapa Flow with the fleet in response to the sighting of the German invasion force in Heligoland Bight for what was erroneously thought to be a breakout into the Atlantic.

To guard against a German invasion of the British Isles, Escapade returned to that area with the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in August, but was detached after three weeks to escort the battleship Barham in Operation Menace, the failed attempt to capture the West African port of Dakar from Vichy France.

In the next month, the destroyer escorted the battleship Nelson in the unsuccessful search for German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which had broken out in Operation Berlin to raid merchant shipping in the North Atlantic.

[8] Returning from this mission, she escorted the aircraft carriers HMS Victorious and Furious as they attacked the Axis-occupied ports of Petsamo, Finland, and Kirkenes, Norway, in Operation EF.

After helping to cover Convoy PQ 17 to the Soviet Union, the destroyer was refitted at Liverpool from 20 July to 24 September.

[8] Receiving the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar during a refit at Cardiff between 3 June and 5 September, Escapade began escorting Convoy ONS 18 after a brief working up.