She was destroyed during the St. Nazaire Raid: at 1:34 on 28 March 1942, loaded with four tons of amatol explosive, the ship rammed the gates of the Forme Ecluse Louis Joubert dry dock.

It was for this short period that she was commanded by Theodore E. Chandler, who would later become an admiral during World War II and be killed in action in the South Pacific in January 1945.

In mid-1934, after making a cruise to Alaska with ROTC units aboard, she was placed in reduced commission attached to Rotating Reserve Destroyer Squadron 20 at San Diego.

Upon her arrival at HMNB Devonport, England, on 29 September 1940, HMS Campbeltown was allocated to the 7th Escort Group, Liverpool, in the Western Approaches Command.

[2] The obsolete Campbeltown was selected for the task, and cosmetic modifications quickly done to make her look similar to a German Möwe-class torpedo boat.

[3] The charges in Campbeltown exploded the next day, 28 March, an hour and a half after the latest time that the British had expected them to detonate.

It was lent by the town to the current HMS Campbeltown, a Type 22 frigate, when it was commissioned in 1989, and remained on the ship whilst it was in service with the Royal Navy.