Hardy was transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in October 1939 to hunt for German commerce raiders in the South Atlantic with Force K. After returning to the United Kingdom in early 1940, the ship became flagship of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla assigned to the Home Fleet.

As the British ships were withdrawing, they were discovered by two other German destroyers that so badly damaged Hardy that she had to be run aground to stop her from sinking.

Hardy 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).

Hardy was berthed in Palma, Majorca, on 23 May 1937 when that port was bombed by the Spanish Republican Air Force, but was not damaged.

They refuelled in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil before proceeding to the estuary of the River Plate in case the damaged German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee attempted to escape from Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had taken refuge after losing the Battle of the River Plate.

The mines were laid on the early morning of 8 April, before the Germans began their invasion, and the destroyers then joined the battlecruiser HMS Renown and her escorts.

The following morning Hardy led four of her half-sisters down Ofotfjord in a surprise dawn attack on Narvik harbour during a blinding snowstorm.

After regrouping, Captain Warburton-Lee led another attack on the harbour later that morning, but inflicted little additional damage due to poor visibility.

Two additional German destroyers crossed the T of the British ships and quickly knocked out Hardy's forward guns.

[10] Hardy was lifted off the beach at high tide and drifted to the head of Skjomen fjord where she capsized in shallow waters.