She was damaged in two consecutive air attacks at Malta in She was towed back to Britain, declared a constructive total loss and was scrapped. She had been adopted by the civil community of Bexley and Welling , Kent in November She was launched on 28 November and commissioned on 13 May On commissioning she was assigned to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla.
She suffered machinery defects whilst at sea and was detached from the Home Fleet units and returned to Scapa Flow. She returned to Greenock in July and resumed escort and convoy defence duties. August was spent escorting convoys through the North Western Approaches before she returned to Gibraltar at the end of the month to escort convoys into the Mediterranean. She continued to screen the convoys to Malta and was part of the escort for the convoys of Operation Halberd. During this the ships came under heavy air and submarine attack, but managed to reach Malta.
After this success, Lance returned to Gibraltar with the other ships of the Fleet. She began a maintenance period on 1 October, which lasted until 12 October. She then joined Force K, which was tasked with intercepting enemy supply convoys on passage to North Africa.
On 9 November the taskforce engaged a convoy which consisted of seven ships escorted by the Italian destroyers Fulmine , Euro , Maestrale , Libeccio , Oriano and Gregale , covered by the cruisers Trento and Trieste. In the ensuing battle, that would become known as the Battle of the Duisburg Convoy , all of the merchant vessels and the Fulmine were sunk. On 24 November they sighted the German supply ships Maritza and Procidas with an escort of two Italian torpedo boats.
Both merchants were set on fire and sunk. After a brief period docked in Malta, Lance returned to convoy escort duties. On 17 December she became involved in the First Battle of Sirte.
