HMS Gipsy was a Fairfield-built three-funnel, 30 knot torpedo boat destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896 – 1897 Naval Estimates.

[2][3] Designated as a C-class destroyer in 1913, Gipsy served on patrol in the First World War operating out of Dover.

She was re-commissioned by Commander William George Elmhirst Ruck-Keene and the crew of HMS Vixen on 31 July 1902, and replaced the latter ship in the instructional flotilla.

After 30 September 1913, she was known as a C-class destroyer and had the letter 'C' painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.

[citation needed] On 24 November 1917 the German submarine U-48 ran aground on the Goodwin Sands and was caught by British patrol craft including Gipsy and five drifters.

[13][14] On the night of 19/20 December 1917, the German submarine UB-56 struck a mine while trying to pass submerged westbound through the Dover Barrage.