Eskimo joined the Home Fleet in time for the 1939 combined fleet exercise, an overt display of strength intended to buy diplomacy more time. She then visited Cherbourg with Ashanti and Matabele in a softer demonstration of naval friendship. After war began, her group nearly fought Faulknor, Foxhound, and Firedrake during a night passage when neither side recognized the other. Eskimo was also present with the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla during the first German air raid on the fleet on 17 October. Within a few months, the same ships had moved through deterrence, diplomacy, identification-challenged patrols, and combat.
Notable Point · 2:27:29-2:28:29
Eskimo's prewar diplomacy and early-war confusion
Before Narvik, Eskimo moved from deterrent exercises and a Cherbourg goodwill visit into patrols where high alert nearly produced a destroyer-on-destroyer engagement.