"York" was laid down by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow, on 18 May 1927, launched on 17 July 1928 and was completed on 1 May 1930. She became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald Drax, then his successor, Vice-Admiral Matthew R. Best, of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet upon commissioning. Between 1931 and 1934 she was commanded by Captain Richard Bevan, who was succeeded in Bermuda by Captain H.P. Boxer. She served as the flagship of the 8th Cruiser Squadron on the North America and West Indies Station based at the Royal Naval Dockyard on Ireland Island in Bermuda. She left Cartagena, Colombia, on the 29 April, 1934, arriving in Bermuda for the first time (along with HMS Exeter from Jamaica) on Friday, 4 May. In Bermuda, "York" was drydocked in Admiralty Floating Dock No. 1, being the largest vessel to have been lifted by that dock at the time and having required the "almost re-construction" of AFD 1 in order "to accommodate the docking of the larger ships of the H.M.S. "York" class". The ship played a primary role in the Jubilee Day celebrations of the Silver Jubilee of George V that took place in the City of Hamilton, Bermuda, on the 6 May, 1935. She was brought in through the channel to berth with special precautions at the Royal Naval Dockyard during the hurricane that struck Bermuda on 30 November 1935 when winds speeds reached 86 miles per hour (the Dockyard had been extensively damaged during a hurricane in October 1926, which had also sunk the sloop with the loss of 85 of her crew). "York" was detached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935 and 1936 for the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, before returning to the American Station until the outbreak of war in September 1939.