HMS Wolsey number became G40 in June 1918; it was changed to D98 during the interwar period. Upon completion, "Wolsey" was assigned to the Grand Fleet, based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, in which she served for the rest of World War I. After the conclusion of World War I, "Wolsey" served in the Atlantic Fleet. In the late 1920s, she operated on the China Station. After the British river steamer SS "Kutwo" collided with and sank a Chinese troop-carrying launch on the Yangtze River and Chinese authorities threatened to seize her at Nanking in early March 1927, "Wolsey" arrived
British occupation of the Faroe Islands on 9 April 1940, British forces launched "Operation Valentine" to occupy the Faroe Islands. On 11 April, Winston Churchill — then First Lord of the Admiralty — announced to the House of Commons that the Faroe Islands would be occupied: We are also at this moment occupying the Faroe Islands, which belong to Denmark and which are a strategic point of high importance, and whose people showed every disposition to receive us with warm regard. We shall shield the Faroe Islands from all the severities of war and establish ourselves there conveniently by sea and air until the moment comes