Gipsy carried a maximum of 470 long tons (480 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5,530 nautical miles (10,240 km; 6,360 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[2] Gipsy was laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, at Govan, Scotland, on 4 September 1934, launched on 7 November 1935 and completed on 22 February 1936.

[5] On 13 February 1937, Gipsy and the destroyer Havock were on passage between Gibraltar and Malta when they were attacked by an aircraft carrying Spanish Nationalist markings.

[4] On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Gipsy was deployed with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla[4] for patrols and contraband control in the Eastern Mediterranean, based at Alexandria.

On 12 November she collided with her sister ship, Greyhound, en route to Harwich, and her new assignment with the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla, but she was only slightly damaged.

Just outside the harbour boom she triggered one of the two magnetic mines dropped about two hours earlier by two German seaplanes, and, almost broken in half, sank on the edge of the deepwater channel at 51°57′N 1°19′E / 51.950°N 1.317°E / 51.950; 1.317.

[4] The inquiry determined that, though the harbour defences had been on alert (UK National Archive 248 Heavy AA Battery War Diary WO 166/2529), and had actually seen and plotted both the seaplanes and their mines, their reporting had been inaccurate.

It turned out that their failure to fire had been due to an Army Anti-Aircraft Command order that unidentified aircraft should not be engaged, though the defenders had, at the time, recognised their nationality, if not their type—and seen their mines.