[1][2] Vanessa saw service in the last months of World War I, during which time she was credited with taking part in the sinking German submarine UB 107.

[2] Vanessa was recommissioned in 1939, and after the United Kingdom entered World War II in September 1939 was assigned to the 17th Destroyer Flotilla at Plymouth for convoy escort and patrol duties in the English Channel and the Southwestern Approaches.

She and the destroyer Gallant were escorting Convoy CW 6 in the English Channel on 13 July 1940 when it came under German air attack shortly after leaving Dover.

A bomb dropped by a Junkers Ju 87 from StG 1 landed in the water six yards (5.5 meters) astern of Vanessa knocked her propellers out of service.

The hit made her boilers explode, blew her forward funnel overboard, killed nine ratings and wounded 17 others, two of them fatally, and caused her to go out of control and collide with the naval trawler Turquoise.

While undergoing repairs and conversion, she was "adopted" by the civil community of Barry, Glamorgan, Wales, in December 1941 in a Warship Week National Savings campaign.

[2] Vanessa remained on North Atlantic convoy duty through the remainder of 1943, but toward the end of the year the Royal Navy selected her for withdrawal from combat service.

She entered service as a target ship in July 1944 and continued in such duties until the armistice with Japan brought World War II to an end on 15 August 1945.