HMS Flirt was a Palmer three funnel, 30 knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates.

[1] The British Admiralty ordered two destroyers, Flirt and Fawn from Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company for the Royal Navy as part of the 1896–1897 shipbuilding programme,[2] which included a total of 20 destroyers (17 "thirty-knotters" and three "specials" which were required to reach a higher speed).

[12] She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII.

[15] On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance.

On the night of 26/27 October 1916 the German Navy raided the Dover Barrage with two and a half flotillas of torpedo boats and destroyers.

Captain Evans tells in his book Keeping the Seas that the life boat carrying the last survivors of Flirt was depth charged by a passing destroyer who thought it was a submarine.