HMS Stour was a Laird-type River-class destroyer purchased by the Royal Navy under the 1908 – 1909 Naval Estimates in December 1909.

Built on speculation, she was laid down on 5 December 1904 at the Cammell Laird shipyard at Birkenhead and launched on 3 June 1905.

She went into reserve assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the 2nd Fleet with a nucleus crew.

On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'.

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