She was laid down on 5 May 1904 at the J Samuel White shipyard at Cowes and launched on 7 March 1905. She was completed in October 1905. Her original armament was to be the same as the Turleback torpedo boat destroyers that preceded her. In 1906, the Admiralty decided to upgrade the armament by landing the five 6-pounder naval guns and shipping three 12-pounder 8 hundredweight (cwt) guns. Two would be mounted abeam at the foc's'le break and the third gun would be mounted on the quarterdeck.
After commissioning she was assigned to the East Coast Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Fleet and based at Harwich.
On 27 April 1908 the Eastern Flotilla departed Harwich for live fire and night manoeuvres. During these exercises rammed and sank then damaged .
In April 1909 she was assigned to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla of the 1st Fleet on its formation at Harwich. She remained until displaced by a Basilisk Class destroyer by May 1912. She went into reserve assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the 2nd Fleet with a nucleus crew.
On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by alpha characters starting with the letter 'A'. The ships of the River Class were assigned to the E Class. After 30 September 1913, she was known as an E Class destroyer and had the letter ‘E’ painted on the hull below the bridge area and on either the fore or aft funnel.[1]
In early 1914 when displaced by G Class destroyers she joined the 9th Destroyer Flotilla based at Chatham tendered to HMS St George. The 9th Flotilla was a patrol flotilla tasked with anti-submarine and countermining patrols in the Firth of Forth area. By September 1914, she was deployed to Portsmouth and the Dover Patrol. Here she provided anti-submarine, counter mining patrols and defended the Dover Barrage.[2]
In August 1915 with the amalgamation of the 9th and 7th Flotillas she was deployed to the 7th Destroyer Flotilla based at the River Humber. She remained employed on the Humber Patrol participating in counter mining operations and anti-submarine patrols for the remainder of the war.[3]
In 1919 HMS Nith was paid off then laid up in reserve awaiting disposal. On 23 July 1919 she was sold to Thos. W. Ward of Sheffield for breaking at Preston, Lancashire.[4]
She was not awarded a Battle Honour for her service.
| Pennant Number[5] | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| N77 | 6 Dec 1914 | 1 Sep 1915 | |
| D27 | 1 Sep 1915 | 1 Jan 1918 | |
| D60 | 1 Jan 1918 | 13 Sep 1918 | |
| H78 | 13 Sep 1918 | 23 Jul 1919 |