HMS Racehorse was a three-funnel, 30-knot torpedo boat destroyer built by Hawthorn Leslie for the Royal Navy.

In May 1902 she received the officers and men from HMS Mermaid, and was commissioned at Chatham by Commander John Green for service with the Medway Instructional Flotilla.

[5] She took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII.

After 30 September 1913, she was known as a C-class destroyer and had the letter ‘C’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.

From 22 August through 19 November 1915, Along with her sisters Mermaid and Greyhound, she provided an anti-submarine screen for several operations off the Belgian coast.