Tenedos to take the drifting lightship under tow were unsuccessful, and the crew of the lightship were eventually rescued by the Ballycotton lifeboat. Tenedos was transferred to the China Station (as the Royal Navy's forces in the West Pacific, Singapore and China were known), going into reserve at Singapore in March 1938. In August 1939, Tenedos, along with sister ships , and , formed a local defence flotilla at Hong Kong. On 24 August 1939 Tenedos and Scout left Hong Kong for Singapore. When the two destroyers arrived at Singapore on 28 August, they were quickly converted to minelayers, which involved removal of one 4 inch gun and the torpedo tubes to accommodate 40 mines. The two destroyers laid a defensive minefield of 544 mines off Singapore between 4 and 8 September 1939, after which Scout was returned to normal destroyer configuration, while Tenedos continued on minelaying duties, with two more minefields being laid off Singapore by October 1939. Two merchant ships, and , were sunk by these minefields in October–November 1939. Tenedos then had her normal destroyer armament refitted. On 23 March 1940, the Royal Navy formed Malaya Force, with the intention of preventing German merchant ships from leaving harbours in the Dutch East Indies. Tenedos, along with was assigned to patrol off Sabang, where five German ships were trapped. The German merchant ships were seized by the Dutch following the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. Tenedos was still based at Singapore on 2 December when the battleship and the battlecruiser arrived. On 5 December, Repulse left Singapore for a visit to Darwin, Australia, with Tenedos and , but they were recalled on 6 December when two large Japanese convoys were spotted by an RAF aircraft. Early on 8 December Japanese bombers attacked Singapore, and later that day, Force Z, comprising Prince of Wales and Repulse, escorted by the destroyers , , Vampire and Tenedos set out to attack the Japanese invasion fleets. At about 18:30 hr on 9 December, Tenedos, now short of fuel, was released from Force Z, and set out to return to Singapore, with orders to make radio contact with base at 08:00 the next morning telling Singapore of the planned course of Force Z, while the main fleet maintained radio silence. Force Z made two major course changes after Tenedos left, turning south for Singapore at 20:15 on 9 December and