When the war started in September 1939, "Lynx" belonged to the 4th Large Destroyer Division () with her sisters and . She was assigned to the Western Command () for convoy escort duties from October to May 1940 where she guarded convoys traveling between Gibraltar and Brest as well as Casablanca, French Morocco, and Le Verdon-sur-Mer. In January 1940, the ship had a British Type 123 ASDIC installed; several months later "Lynx" had two depth-charge throwers reinstalled, No. 3 gun removed, and her depth charge stowage reduced to a dozen 200 kg and eight 100 kg depth charges to improve her stability. She was transferred to Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, on 27 May and she was still there on 25 June after France surrendered. The ship managed to escape the harbor during the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July and together with her sister "Tigre" briefly engaged the destroyer . The sisters then depth charged the submarine as the French ships headed for Toulon, where they arrived the following day. As the oldest "contre-torpilleurs" in French service, "Lynx" and her sisters were reduced to reserve and stripped of their light anti-aircraft armament. On 27 November 1942, "Lynx" was scuttled at Toulon with the rest of the French fleet to prevent her capture by the Germans. She was refloated on 23 January 1944 and beached at the adjacent port of Brégaillon. The wreck was raised in 1948 and broken up.