Battle of Cape Spartivento
"Despatch" had a relatively quiet wartime career, compared to her sisters. She was operating in the South Atlantic for the early part of the war, where she captured the German freighter and intercepted the German merchant ship . The crew of "Troja" scuttled her, however, before the ship could be captured. She was in the Mediterranean, escorting convoys in late 1940, and became involved in Operation White and the Battle of Cape Spartivento. By the battle of Cape Spartivento as part of Force "B", a sub-unit of Force "H", Gibraltar.