Naval Warships are "used for signaling, keeping time, and sounding alarms... bells are an important part of a ship's routine and readiness.

Herndon decommissioned and was turned over to Great Britain under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 9 September 1940.

As HMS Churchill, she served as leader of the first Town-class flotilla in transatlantic convoys and patrol duty off the Western Approaches to the British Isles.

Notable events in her career in the Royal Navy included participation in the search for the German battleship Bismarck after she had sunk the battlecruiser HMS Hood, and a visit by her namesake, the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on his way home from the Atlantic Conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in August 1941.

[3] Churchill also served as an escort for the pre- and post-invasion buildup for Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa.

Churchill was modified for trade convoy escort service by removal of three of the original 4-inch (102 mm)/50 caliber guns and three of the triple torpedo tube mounts to reduce topside weight for additional depth charge stowage and installation of Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar.