HMS Welland was a Yarrow-built River-class destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1902 – 1903 Naval Estimates.

After commissioning she was assigned to the East Coast Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Fleet and based at Harwich.

[3] In July 1914 she was on the China Station based at Hong Kong tendered to HMS Triumph.

After Japan entered the war on the side of the Entente Powers she returned to Hong Kong.

With the fall of Qingdao and the sinking of the SMS Emden, she was redeployed to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla in the British Mediterranean Fleet in November 1914 accompanying Triumph, to support the Dardanelles Campaign.