Speedy was one of a pair of destroyers ordered from Thornycroft with more powerful geared turbines and design changes like a raised forecastle that improved seakeeping.

Speedy was one of two S-class destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty from Thornycroft in April 1917 as part of the Eleventh War Construction Programme alongside the similar Tobago.

[3] In a similar way to previous designs, Thornycroft also installed more powerful machinery to give the warship a higher top speed.

Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines rated at 29,000 shaft horsepower (22,000 kW) and driving two shafts, giving a design speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) in light load and 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) at full load.

The ship carried 250 long tons (250 t) of fuel oil, giving a design range of 3,450 nautical miles (6,390 km; 3,970 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).

[9] As part of fleet led by Iron Duke, the ship was assigned to Constantinople to enforce British interests in the conflicts in the Black Sea.

[13] The action required the ships to avoid casualties as much as possible, which meant that, for example, in the Gulf of Gemlik in July 1920, Speedy had to carefully provide support without firing on Turkish villages.