Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines rated at 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW) and driving two shafts, giving a design speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) at normal loading and 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) at deep load.

A full load of 301 long tons (306 t) of fuel oil was carried, which gave a design range of 2,750 nautical miles (5,090 km; 3,160 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[3] The ship was designed to mount two additional 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes either side of the superstructure but this required the forecastle plating to be cut away, making the vessel very wet, so they were removed.

[6] Laid down in November 1917 by William Doxford & Sons at their dockyard in Sunderland, Shamrock was launched on 26 August the following year, shortly before the Armistice which ended the First World War.

[11] Five days later, the destroyer arrived in Liepāja along with sister ships Serene, Sesame, Strenuous and Torbay in time to see peace restored.

[12] On 2 May 1924, Shamrock was guard ship for the Racer while the diving support vessel recovered over 100 gold bars from the wreck of the Laurentic.

[14] Between 5 and 30 April 1933, the destroyer, along with sister ship Searcher, visited Morocco and Spain, calling in at Casablanca, Cadiz, Bonanza and Tangier, as well as revisiting Seville.

[15] On 31 October, the ship escorted the first Prime Minister of Republican Spain, Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, on an official visit to the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.

[18] In 1936, with tensions escalating in Spain, Shamrock, was joined by five other destroyers and three cruisers, just before the start of the Spanish Civil War.