They arrived at sunset on 18 July, and the next morning, the two ships were ordered to patrol the Gulf of Athens for Axis warships and shipping, while providing support for a four-ship destroyer force (HM Ships,,, and ) conducting an anti-submarine sweep north of Crete.
At 07:20 on 19 July, the destroyer force spotted and was spotted by a pair of Italian light cruisers; Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni, which opened fire seven minutes later.
Stuart, leading the destroyer force, was the first to open fire; her opening salvo was a direct hit at a range of 12600 yards.
She served as the flagship of Division 4 of the Destroyer Force through October 1927, when she was transferred to Division 1.
At this time, Fletcher sent Crace's cruiser and destroyer force, now designated Task Group 17.3 (TG 17.3), to block the Jomard Passage.
The first Japanese bombardment force was driven back by an American cruiser-destroyer force.
The British had similarly ordered an attack with their destroyers, which led to a hard-fought battle at close range between the opposing destroyer forces, supported by light cruisers and the battlecruisers' secondary guns.
After her shakedown cruise, she joined the destroyer forces attached to the US Battle Fleet based in San Diego, California.
Further attempts by Tanaka's destroyer forces to deliver provisions on 3 December 7 December, and 11 December, failed to alleviate the crisis, and one of Tanaka's destroyers was sunk by a U.S. PT boat torpedo.
Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached Horns Reef by 4 00 on 1 June.
