Exmouth displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship had an overall length of, a beam of and a draught of. She was powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by three Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of. Exmouth carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at. The ship's complement was 175 officers and ratings. The ship mounted five 45-calibre 4.7-inch Mark IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft defence, Exmouth had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for British 21-inch torpedo| torpedoes. One depth charge rail and two throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.
Service
Exmouth was ordered on 1 November 1932 under the 1931 Naval Programme, and was laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard on 15 March 1933. She was launched on 30 January 1934, named the following day, and commissioned for service on 9 November 1934. On commissioning, Exmouth was assigned as leader of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet. The increased tensions between Italy and Abyssinia – eventually leading to the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War – caused the Admiralty to attach the flotilla to the Mediterranean Fleet from August 1935 to March 1936, although Exmouth was refitted in Alexandria from 4 October 1935 to 5 January 1936. The ship patrolled Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War enforcing the edicts of the Non-Intervention Committee in between annual refits at Portsmouth between 17 November 1936 and 19 January 1937 and 21 November 1938 and 16 January 1939. She returned to Britain in March and Exmouth was assigned to training duties and local flotilla work based at Portsmouth on 28 April. She carried out these duties until 2 August, when she was placed into full commission as the leader of the 12th Destroyer Flotilla. Exmouth and her flotilla were initially assigned to the Home Fleet upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. The ship and two of her flotilla mates, and, escorted the battlecruiser as she searched for German commerce raiders south of Iceland in late November. In December, she was transferred to the Western Approaches Command to carry out patrols and escort convoys, but was transferred to Rosyth in January 1940 to carry out the same duties in the North Sea. She was escorting the merchant Cyprian Prince on 21 January 1940 when she was spotted by the, under the command of Karl-Heinrich Jenisch, and torpedoed at 05:35. She sank with the loss of all hands. After sinking Exmouth, the submarine also fired on Cyprian Prince whose master deemed it too dangerous to pick up survivors. Eighteen bodies were later found washed ashore by a schoolboy playing truant near Wick. They were buried with full military honours in the cemetery at Wick.
