Faulknor was a large destroyer leader that served initially in the Grand Fleet, and took part in the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

At the end of 1916, she transferred to the Dover Patrol, a force tasked with preventing German raiding craft gaining access to the English Channel.

Faulknor carried out both defensive patrols and offensive operations against the coastline of German-held Belgium, taking part in both the First and Second Ostend Raid in the spring of 1918.

[1][2] Almirante Simpson, the third of the class, was launched on 26 February 1914 and purchased, almost complete, by the Royal Navy on the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.

[13][14] Faulknor took part in a sweep by the cruiser Fearless and 10 destroyers off the mouth of the River Ems on 25 October 1914 which acted as a diversion for a planned raid by aircraft from the seaplane carriers Engadine and Riviera, escorted by the Harwich Force, on the German airship base near Cuxhaven.

[17] Early in February 1915, Faulknor took part in anti-submarine sweeps in the Irish Sea as a response to operations by U-21 which sank three small steamers on 30 January,[18] and then in escorting the ships carrying the 1st Canadian Division from Avonmouth to St Nazaire.

[20] On 12 March 1915, Faulknor and six destroyers were detached from the Grand Fleet for anti-submarine operations in the Irish Sea where the German submarines U-20 and U-27 were active, disrupting the operations of the Northern Patrol,[21][22] but they were recalled on 15 March as a result of increased submarine activity off Rosyth.

[25][26] Faulknor was still leader of the 12th Destroyer Flotilla at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, operating in support of the Grand Fleet.

[28][29] At about 01:43 hr GMT on 1 June, Faulknor spotted a group of German battleships and manoeuvred to set up a torpedo attack by her flotilla.

Faulknor set off from Cromarty with six destroyers of the 12th Flotilla on 3 November, but was recalled later that day when the British intercepted signals indicating that U-30 had got her engines working again.

The raid was ineffective, with a clash between the patrolling destroyer Laverock causing one group of German torpedo boats to turn back, while a second group of German torpedo boats shelled Margate and Westgate-on-Sea, destroying a house and killing a woman and two children.

[d] The northern German force torpedoed and sunk a merchant ship (SS Greypoint) anchored outside the entrance to the Downs, and then shelled Ramsgate and Broadstairs before withdrawing.

[42][43] On 12 May 1917, the monitors Erebus, Terror, Marshal Soult, Sir John Moore, M24 and M26 bombarded the German-held Belgian port of Zeebrugge, with Faulknor part of the escort force for the operation.

[50] On 25 July 1917, ships of the Dover Patrol, supported by the Harwich Force, laid a mine-net barrage off the Belgian coast between Nieuport and Zeebrugge.

[51] A group of six British destroyers led by Faulknor exchanged long range gunfire with four German torpedo boats during the operation.