HMS Laforey was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was commissioned in and served during the Second World War, and was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat in 1944. She had been adopted by the civil community of Northampton in November 1941.

Laforey was ordered from the yards of Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun, Glasgow on 31 March 1938 under the 1937 Naval Estimates. She was laid down on 1 March 1939 at the same time as her sister, Lance. She was launched on 15 February 1941 and commissioned on 26 August 1941. She cost £445,684, excluding items such as weapons and communications equipment supplied by the Admiralty. On commissioning she was assigned to the 19th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet as the Flotilla leader.

Laforey was almost immediately reassigned to the Mediterranean, where she joined Force H in escorting a relief convoy to Malta as part of Operation Halberd. Despite heavy air attacks, the convoy reached Malta on 28 September, and Laforey returned to Gibraltar with the ships of Force X. In October she was permanently assigned to Force H, to carry out convoy escort duties, and fleet screening patrols. On 10 November she and the destroyers Lightning, Legion, Sikh, Zulu, Gurkha and the Dutch HNLMS Isaac Sweers were deployed to escort the cruiser Hermione, the battleship Malaya and the aircraft carriers Ark Royal and Argus during an operation to deliver aircraft to Malta. Ark Royal was torpedoed by the German submarine U-81 on 13 November as the task force returned to Gibraltar. Laforey made several unsuccessful anti-submarine attacks against suspected sonar contacts, before standing by the stricken carrier. Later in the day, Laforey ran power cables across to Ark Royal to support damage control measures. These were ultimately unsuccessful and Ark Royal sank the next day, and Laforey returned to Gibraltar.

Laforey spent January as part of anti-submarine patrols that had been instigated to intercept U-boats as they passed through the Strait of Gibraltar. On 18 January she and Hesperus intercepted and attacked U-93 with depth charges. February and March were then spent escorting convoys through the Atlantic, and screening aircraft carriers on operations to deliver aircraft to Malta. On 1 April Laforey was detached from Force H and sailed to Freetown to screen fleet units and cover convoys in the Atlantic. She arrived at Cape Town on 18 April with a military convoy, and escorted them on to Durban, arriving there on 22 April.

On 28 April she was deployed to support Operation Ironclad, the planned Invasion of Madagascar. She carried out shore bombardments on 2 May and then, together with the destroyers Anthony and Lightning, used buoys to mark the approach channel to the landing areas at Diego Suarez on 4 May. The next day, Laforey and Lightning led landing ships into the harbour, and provided naval gunfire support. On 6 May, Laforey and her sisters Lightning and Lookout screened the battleship Ramillies during a search for Japanese warships that had been reported in the area. On 7 May Laforey covered Anthony as she landed marines and the next day she began a series of anti-submarine patrols that would last until she was detached from the operation on 27 May, when she, Lookout and Lightning sailed for Colombo to join the Eastern Fleet. She spent June with the Eastern Fleet, mostly carrying out exercises and conducting offensive sweeps, before sailing to Mombasa on 23 June.

Arriving at Mombasa on 1 July, she was initially deployed in the South Atlantic to hunt commerce raiders and escort convoys. On 19 July she was detached and nominated to rejoin Force H. After sailing around Africa with a number of other capital ships, she arrived at Gibraltar in early August. She sailed on 9 August, escorting the ships comprising Operation Pedestal. On 10 August she and Lookout escorted the aircraft carrier Furious in an attempt to deliver aircraft to Malta, but were detached on 11 August to rescue survivors from the torpedoed aircraft carrier Eagle. The two ships and a rescue tug were able to rescue 927 survivors. After transferring survivors to Keppel, Laforey continued escorting the convoy. Together with Fury and Foresight, she launched an unsuccessful attack on the Italian submarine Brin later that day.

The next day, 12 August, the ships of the convoy came under heavy air attack. Laforey managed to escape damage and with a number of other ships, was detached from the convoy when it reached the Sicilian Narrows. They remained in the area until 14 August, when they sailed for Gibraltar, arriving there on 15 August. She deployed the next day to escort Furious and Charybdis in another delivery of aircraft to Malta. They returned on 18 August and on 21 August Laforey began anti-submarine operations off Gibraltar.

On 4 September she and Lookout escorted Leinster into Gibraltar. Laforey then sailed for Southampton for a refit, arriving there on 17 September. She spent October and most of November under refit, followed by a period of post-trial workup exercises with her sister Lightning at Scapa Flow. She and Lightning then escorted the troopship Duchess of Atholl out of Liverpool en route to Gibraltar, where they arrived on 20 December. On 21 December Laforey and Lightning carried out rescue operations after the torpedoing of Strathallan.