Javelin was laid down by John Brown and Company, Limited, at Clydebank in Scotland on 11 October 1937, launched on 21 December 1938, and commissioned on 10 June 1939 with the pennant number F61.

[1] At the end of November 1940 the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of HMS Jupiter, Javelin, Jackal, Jersey, and Kashmir, under Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten, was operating off Plymouth, England.

The flotilla engaged the German destroyers Hans Lody, Richard Beitzen, and Karl Galster.

Javelin was badly damaged by gunfire and torpedoes fired by the German destroyers, losing both her bow and her stern.

Javelin along with HMS Kelvin destroyed a flotilla of Italian small ships on the night of 19 January 1943.