All five of the C class were assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet upon commissioning during 1932. Following the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, the entire flotilla was sent to the Red Sea in August 1935 to monitor Italian warship movements until April 1936. Refitted upon their return, they were deployed to Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–37 to intercept shipping carrying contraband goods to Spain and to protect British-flagged ships. "Crescent" and "Cygnet" were sold to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1937 and "Comet" and "Crusader" in 1938. "Kempenfelt" was bought in 1939, but the Royal Navy did not turn her over until enough auxiliary anti-submarine ships had been commissioned to replace her after World War II had started. All four 'C'-class ships were stationed at Esquimalt in British Columbia when the war began, but only "Fraser" and "St. Laurent" were immediately recalled to begin convoy escort duties on the Atlantic Coast, the other two following in November. "Assiniboine" was sent to the Caribbean for local escort duties in December where she assisted in the capture of the blockade runner in March 1940. "Fraser", "St. Laurent", and "Restigouche" were transferred to the UK in late May and helped to evacuate refugees from France. "Fraser" was sunk on 25 June 1940 in a collision with the anti-aircraft cruiser in the Gironde estuary while the other two were assigned to the Western Approaches Command for escort duties.