The Royal Navy ordered Ledbury's construction two days after the outbreak of the Second World War and J. I. Thornycroft Ltd laid down her keel at their Southampton yard on 24 January 1940.

She remained in this theatre for the first part of the war, during which time she served with the ill-fated Arctic convoy PQ 17 in June 1942, from which twenty-four ships were lost.

Mariners that took part in convoys delivering supplies to Russia remember vividly the biting cold and the continual fear of attack by air or sea.

The problems for convoy PQ 17 started early on the morning of 4 July 1942, with the appearance of a copper-yellow warhead of a torpedo, clearly visible just below the surface of the sea.

The torpedo slammed into the ship's engine-room, tearing a gaping hole and knocking the steering gear out of action with an enormous explosion.

The next front action for Ledbury came later on that day, at 08:20, when the destroyer began signalling, 'Eight air torpedo-bombers 210 degrees, five miles', and then two minutes later, 'for eight read ten'.

In order to protect the convoy the destroyers and cruisers, believing that they were steaming to intercept a larger force, headed west thereby abandoning the merchantmen.

As well as the loss of precious lives and supplies, there was widespread bitterness and the recriminations reverberated for many months, as stated by the commander of Ledbury, Roger P. Hill: There were twenty-three ships sunk in that PQ 17, one-hundred-ninety seamen killed, four-hundred or five-hundred aircraft were lost, about three-hundred tanks and a hundred thousand tons of war material.

The American cruiser people ashore, of course they just said 'The Limeys are yellow' and they all had fights and had to have leave on different nights and so on, and Tirpitz was not within 300 or 400 miles of the convoy.

It was simply awful ..."In 1942, Great Britain was waging war against Italian forces in North Africa and their allies, Rommel's Afrika Korps.

Attempts to run the blockade and resupply Malta proved to be a failure; previous convoys such as Harpoon (from Gibraltar) and Vigorous (from Alexandria, Egypt) had lost most of their merchantmen and their escorts had been damaged.

In the afternoon, HMS Eagle was hit by torpedoes, with Derwent ordering Ledbury to stand by the stricken aircraft carrier.

[15] The convoy now suffered a series of aerial attacks with the gunner of Ledbury's port Oerlikon thought to have shot down one plane, although many other ships were firing at this machine.

[16] In the ensuing mayhem, Ledbury was ordered[15] to fill in gaps in the screen caused by ships falling back on contact.

The captured airman stated that the last raid consisted of Luftwaffe airmen flying Junkers 88s from Sicily; and that he had been shot down by close range weapons from the convoy.

The attack became increasingly indefensible; two ships were hit, one exploded, the other remained afloat but both were creating a huge mass of burning petrol on the water.

Ledbury then returned to Ohio intending to take her in tow, but the tanker reported that she could steam with her steering aft but had no compass.

Ledbury informed[2] stragglers of the presence of a minefield near Zembra, while she also contacted HMS Penn that the survivors from the damaged ships had not been picked up and that she was going on with the tanker.

The destroyer went to the scene, but it was originally thought[2] impossible that anyone could survive such a terrific explosion and mass of flames, but on approaching, men were seen in the water.

By this time the Commander estimated that the destroyer was about thirty miles astern of the convoy, which meant that they had to speed up in order to reach the ships.

Just as Captain Hill suggested to Penn to take Ohio in tow, Ledbury received a signal from the Convoy Commander to stand by Manchester in the Gulf of Hammamet.

As the destroyer searched for the missing ship, it had passed alongside the wreckage of Almeria Lykes, and it had also shot down two three-engined Savoia-Marchetti bombers.

A little later, Commander Hill sighted gunfire ahead, and considering it to be Ohio's escorts beating off reconnaissance snoops, the destroyer turned course towards the flashes on the horizon.

Rye took the destroyer in tow[27] to keep the ship from falling off, whilst Penn went alongside the starboard side of the tanker to act as a drag to keep her straight.

Just before the attack, American survivors from the merchantman Santa Elisa asked Commander Hill to take a party aboard Ohio to repair and man one of the anti-aircraft guns, an offer gratefully accepted by Ledbury's captain.

[28] In the attack, Ledbury received a near miss within a few feet of the fo'c'sle, which fortunately was an oil bomb and caused no casualties.

This was the last successful attack, and Ledbury, Penn and Bramham secured either side of the tanker, and by some very skilful seamanship and endurance on the part of the crews[29] brought Ohio into Valletta Harbour.

[30] In June 1943 Ledbury proceeded again to the Mediterranean after further service on escort duties between Iceland and the Orkney Islands and took part in the invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky.

[31] She was also involved in the Salerno invasion in September 1943, but thereafter her main employment was as a convoy escort to the Italian front, based at first on Malta and latterly at Alexandria.

Between 15 January and 12 February 1944 Ledbury was engaged in patrols along the supply lines of the Dalmatian coast, where heavy Axis losses were involved, becoming untenable due to the increased employment of Allied fighter-bombers from bases in Italy.