The Aetos class was powered by two Parsons geared turbines turning two shafts and fed steam by five coal-fired White-Forster boilers.

[2][5] They were purchased by Greece for 148,000 pounds each in October 1912, as the outbreak of the First Balkan War was imminent,[6] and renamed Aetos, Ierax, Panthir and Leon respectively.

[2] The ships hoisted the Greek flag and sailed independently from Britain, still manned with Argentine crews, for Algiers.

[6] Within a few days of arriving at the Salamis Naval Base, they were sent to join the main Greek battlefleet at Lemnos, apart from Aetos, which underwent five weeks of repairs.

[6] In December 1916, the French Navy landed troops near Athens to put pressure on the royal government of King Constantine I of Greece during the Greek "National Schism".

In retaliation for the series of events, France seized several Greek vessels, including three destroyers of the Aetos class.

[8] Following some objections by senior French naval officers, the Aetos class were officially returned to the Greek Navy in 1917.

However, due to a shortage of trained Greek personnel and that they were refitting in French naval yards, there was a delay in the actual handover.

In 1918, the four destroyers, alongside the cruiser Georgios Averoff, joined the British Royal Navy's Aegean Squadron at Mudros.

Ierax, Panthir and Aetos remained in service until 1945, serving under British Royal Navy control.