HMS Exeter was the second and last York-class heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s, and the last heavy cruiser the Royal Navy would ever build. Aside from a temporary deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–1936, she spent the bulk of the 1930s assigned to the Atlantic Fleet or the North America and West Indies Station. When World War II began in September 1939, the cruiser was assigned to patrol South American waters against German commerce raiders. Exeter was one of three British cruisers that fought the German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, later that year in the Battle of the River Plate. She was severely damaged during the battle, and she was under repair for over a year.

After repairs were completed the ship spent most of 1941 on convoy escort duties before she was transferred to the Far East after the start of the Pacific War in December. Exeter was generally assigned to escorting convoys to and from Singapore during the Malayan Campaign, and she continued on those duties in early February 1942 as the Japanese prepared to invade the Dutch East Indies. Later that month, she was assigned to the Striking Force of the joint American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM), and she took on a more active role in the defence of the Dutch East Indies. The culmination of this was her engagement in the Battle of the Java Sea later in the month as the Allies attempted to intercept several Imperial Japanese Navy invasion convoys. Exeter was crippled early in the battle, and she did not play much of a role as she withdrew. Two days later, she attempted to escape approaching Japanese forces, but she was intercepted and sunk by Japanese ships at the beginning of March in the Second Battle of the Java Sea.

Most of her crewmen survived the sinking and were rescued by the Japanese. About a quarter of them died during Japanese captivity. Her wreck was discovered in early 2007, and it was declared a war grave, but by 2016 her remains, along with other WWII wrecks, had been destroyed by illegal salvagers.

Exeter was ordered two years after her sister ship York and her design incorporated improvements in light of experience with the latter. Her beam was increased by one foot (30 cm) to compensate for increases in topweight, and her boiler uptakes were trunked backwards from the boiler rooms, allowing for straight funnels further removed from the bridge rather than the raked funnels on York to ensure adequate dispersal of the flue gases. As the eight-inch (203 mm) gun turrets had proved not strong enough to accommodate the aircraft catapult originally intended, Exeter was given a pair of fixed catapults angled out from amidships in a "V" shape, with the associated crane placed to starboard. Consequently, the bridge was lowered (that of York being tall to give a view over the intended aircraft), and was of a streamlined, enclosed design that was incorporated into later cruisers.

Exeter was slightly lighter than expected and displaced 8,390 long tons (8,520 t) at standard load and 10,620 long tons (10,790 t) at deep load. The ship had an overall length of 575 feet 1 inch (175.3 m), a beam of 58 feet (17.7 m) and a draught of 20 feet 3 inches (6.2 m) at deep load. She was powered by four Parsons geared steam turbine sets, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of 80,000 shaft horsepower (60,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph). The ship could carry 1,900 long tons (1,930 t) of fuel oil which gave her a range of 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 km; 11,510 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). The ship's complement was 628 officers and ratings.

The main armament of the York-class ships consisted of six BL eight-inch (203 mm) Mk VIII guns in three twin-gun turrets, designated "A", "B", and "Y" from fore to aft. "A" and "B" were superfiring forward of the superstructure and "Y" was aft of it. Defence against aircraft was provided by four QF four-inch (102 mm) Mk V anti-aircraft (AA) guns in single mounts amidships and a pair of two-pounder (40 mm (1.6 in)) light AA guns ("pom-poms") in single mounts. The ships also fitted with two triple torpedo tube above-water mounts for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes.

The cruisers lacked a full-length waterline armour belt. The sides of Exeter's boiler and engine rooms and the sides of the magazines were protected by 3 inches (76 mm) of armour. The transverse bulkheads at the end of her propulsion machinery rooms were 3.5 inches (89 mm) thick. The top of the magazines were protected by 5.5 inches (140 mm) of armour and their ends were 4.375 inches (111 mm) thick. The lower deck over the machinery spaces and steering gear had a thickness of 1.5 inches (38 mm).

In 1932 Exeter had her side plating extended to enclose her open main deck as far back as the fore funnel. During that same refit, her pair of fixed catapults were finally installed for her Fairey IIIF floatplanes. In 1934–1935, two quadruple mounts for Vickers 0.5 in (12.7 mm) antiaircraft machineguns replaced the pair of two-pounder "pom-poms" originally installed.