[3] As with other early Royal Navy destroyers, the detailed design was left to the builder, with the Admiralty laying down only broad requirements.

[4][5] In order to meet the contract speed of 30 knots (35 mph; 56 km/h), Laird's design was powered by two four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, fed by four Normand boilers, rated at 6,300 ihp (4,700 kW), and was fitted with four funnels.

[10] Newly commissioned, Sparrowhawk took part in the naval review off Spithead on 26 June 1897 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

[12] Laird's thirty-knotters were considered strongly built ships and good seaboats, suitable for deployment on overseas stations,[13][6] and so Sparrowhawk and sister ship Virago were deployed to the Pacific Station in 1897, being based at Esquimault, British Columbia, Canada.

While all the crew survived, attempts by the battleship Glory to recover the stricken destroyer failed, and Sparrowhawk sank.