Greece had ordered five new destroyers to replace the aged and ready for replacement Macedonia class destroyers. The Kallithea was completed in July of 1939 and delivered to the Greek Navy just as World War Two was due to erupt. The ship was ordered and completed as a J class destroyer leader variant. Kallithea was to have been the leader to four 'I' class destroyers. These were to have been completed in late 1939 early 1940, but on the outbreak of war these ships were requisitioned by the RN and completed for them.
The Greek Navy had little to do against the Italians during the Italian invasion. The Italians had both sea and air superiority and once the Germans entered the conflict, the retreats and losses to Greece came one after another. Even the aid from the Allied forces did not help, the German forces were too strong. Kallithea spent its time escorting ships from Greece to Egypt, then to Crete with the last of the Allied forces. Once the German paratroopers went into Crete the Kallithea then escorted ships crammed with survivors to Egypt. There were now thousands of displaced Greeks from the armed services in Egypt, looking for revenge on the Germans.
Now that Greece was in the war, the Kallithea could go in for modernisation. What emerged was a ship that was the equal of the RN 'J' class. The ship was posted to Malta too act with Force K. Kallithea survived Force K and its ups and down. Returning to Alexandria it became the leader of the four new Greek 'I' class destroyers. Three of the ex-Greek 'I' class were still in existence in 1942 and had been transferred to the Greek Navy. One of the RN 'I' class was transferred to make up the four. This flotilla stayed in the Eastern Mediterranean covering the fleet movements and any other sortie given to them. 1944 the five ships escorted the Government back to Greece on the withdrawal of the German forces.
