H.M.S. Ariel was one of twenty "Acheron" or "I" Class destroyers ordered by the Admiralty in 1910 in response to the threat posed by a new class of German torpedo-boats rumoured to be capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots. As was normal practice, the orders for the new destroyers were distributed amongst several yards, with Ariel [and Acheron] going to Thornycroft's at Woolston, near Southampton. Apart from a very slight difference in displacement tonnage [Ariel's 763 against Acheron's 773], the pair were otherwise identical at 251¾ feet in length with a 26½ foot beam, and each was armed with 2-4in. guns, 2-12 pdr. and 2 torpedo tubes. Fitted with Yarrow boilers and designed to make 29 knots (15,500 h.p.), both boats easily exceeded their design speed whilst the class as a whole was highly regarded by their officers who stated they handled "very well" and were "excellent sea boats .... especially when setting course". When at sea, the class was readily identifiable from its distinctive red and white funnel bands and each boat carried a complement of 71. Ariel herself was launched at Woolston on 26 September 1911 and, upon completion, entered service - like the rest of her class - with the Home Fleet.
After three years of peacetime manoeuvre and training, the conflict for which the Royal Navy had been preparing itself for so long finally came when war was declared on 4 August 1914. The first big-scale naval encounter of the Great War took place in the Heligoland Bight, off the North German coast, on 28 August and Ariel was in action there against the German light-cruiser Mainz which was subsequently sunk. Apart from its strategic significance, this encounter was also notable as being the first occassion on which British torpedo-boat destroyers played a meaningful role in battle despite their introduction into the fleet thirty years previously. Early in 1915 Ariel scored her first success against a submarine when she rammed and sank U.12 whilst patrolling off the mouth of the Firth of Forth on 10 March; even though she had to be docked for repairs as a result, it was nevertheless a useful victory at a time when the submarine menace was increasingly marked. The following year saw Ariel participating at Jutland, the only fleet-to-fleet engagement of the War, and since she was part of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla attached to the 5th Battle Squadron, she found herself in action right at the start of that momentous battle (31 May - 1 June 1916). On 6 December that year she scored her second submarine victory whrn she destroyed U.18 off the Bishop's Rock lighthouse by the use of explosive paravanes, this being one of only two instances during the War when U-boats were sunk by this method.
As the War neared its end, Ariel was re-assigned to the new 20th Destroyer Flotilla based at Immingham for service in the North Sea. On 2 August 1918, she was amongst several vessels patrolling in the Heligoland Bight when she struck a mine and was immediately disabled. A few survivors were taken off but then her magazine blew up and she sank within minutes, taking most of her officers and crew with her.