 On October 1916, "Laforey" was one of a division of destroyers detached to reinforce the Dover Patrol, reaching Dover on 24 October.Fearing an attack by German surface vessels against shipping in The Downs, against the Belgian coast or against the Dover Barrage, where anti-submarine nets were guarded by lightly armed trawlers, Vice-Admiral Reginald Bacon, commander of the Dover Patrol, ordered four destroyers, including "Laforey", to Dunkirk on 26 October.On that night the Germans launched an attack against the Dover Barrage and shipping in the Straits.