The turbines developed a total of 34,000 shaft horsepower (25,000 kW) and were intended to give a maximum speed of 35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph).

[2] The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, they had two quadruple mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun.

[7] On 29 November 1939, Icarus sighted the German submarine U-35 between the Shetland Islands and Bergen (Norway), but was unable to launch an effective attack because her ASDIC (sonar) was out of commission.

[8] In early May 1941, the British Admiralty was on the alert that the Bismarck might attempt to break out into the North Atlantic; so Icarus was ordered to Scapa Flow for possible deployment against the Germans.

On 22 May, just after midnight, Icarus sailed along with the destroyers Achates, Antelope, Anthony, Echo, and Electra, escorting the battlecruiser Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales to cover the northern approaches.

They were expecting to find many survivors, and rigged scrambling nets and heaving lines, and placed life belts on the deck where they could be quickly thrown in.

Icarus was involved in many important events of the Second World War, Dunkirk, Spitzbergen, and numerous Atlantic and Russian convoys.

Icarus was paid off on 29 August 1946, handed over to the British Iron & Steel Corporation on 29 October 1946 and broken up at Troon in Scotland.