on the China Station with the 8th (later the 21st) Destroyer Flotilla and arrived there on 3 January 1935. She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in the Red Sea from 30 September 1935 to June 1936 during the Abyssinian Crisis. The ship was refitted afterwards in Hong Kong between 21 September and 15 October and conducted anti-piracy patrols after her refit was complete. On 21 January 1937, the merchant ship SS Hsin Pekin grounded on the Nemesis Rock off Ningbo and Dainty posted a guard aboard her until she was refloated. The ship made a number of port visits in Sarawak, Singapore and the Philippines in January–March 1938. As war loomed, she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, arriving at Alexandria with her sister on 30 September 1939, after the outbreak of World War II. Dainty was assigned to search for contraband being shipped across the Mediterranean throughout October and November, before undergoing a refit at Malta from 8–30 December. On its completion she was transferred to the 2nd Destroyer Division, based in Freetown, Sierra Leone to search for German commerce raiders operating in the South Atlantic. The ship was transferred back to the Mediterranean Fleet in April and was given another refit at Malta from 21 April to 2 June 1940. On its completion, Dainty was assigned to the 10th Destroyer Flotilla. On 12 June, she rescued over 400 survivors from the light cruiser , which had been sunk off Crete. Eight days later, the ship, and three other destroyers, escorted the and three British cruisers as they bombarded Bardia during the night of 20/21 June. On 27 June, Dainty, her sister and the destroyer attacked the and damaged her badly. The crew then scuttled Liuzzi. Two days later, Dainty and Ilex attacked the submarines and , sinking Uebi Scebeli, although Salpa was able to escape. The British ships were able to salvage important encryption material, including the latest codebook. They may also have been responsible for the sinking of the on 29 June as she returned from Tobruk. Dainty participated in the Battle of Calabria on 9 July as an escort for the heavy ships of Force C and unsuccessfully engaged Italian destroyers and suffered no damage. Together with her sisters Defender and , the Australian destroyer , and the light cruisers and , she escorted Convoy AN.2 from Egypt to various ports in the Aegean Sea