Medusa (originally named Lesvos) was launched by the Scottish shipbuilder John Brown in March 1915 and was completed in July that year.

[1][2] The destroyers were of similar design to the contemporary M-class being built for the British Royal Navy, with the major difference being a modified machinery arrangement.

[3] On 4–5 August 1915, Medusa took part in a sweep of four light cruisers and four destroyers of the Harwich Force against German torpedo-boats and trawlers that were believed to be patrolling off Terschelling.

On the afternoon of 17 August, the force encountered a number of neutral and German fishing trawlers, which were suspected of signalling to Germany by radio.

Two aircraft returned, reporting that the airship base was not at Hoyer as thought, but at Tondern further inland, and that they had been unable to attack it.

During the search, they encountered two German patrol boats, Braunschweig and Otto Rudolf, which were quickly sunk by gunfire.

At first Lightfoot proceeded at a speed of 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) with the two ships and escorting destroyers coming under frequent attack by German aircraft.

As the day went on, the weather grew steadily worse, with frequent snow storms and heavy seas, and at 7:40 pm the tow-line parted with the ships still only 50 nautical miles (58 mi; 93 km) from Horns Reef.