July 18, 1929 at 3:35 Lady Madden, wife of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Madden, First Sea Lord, broke a bottle of Colonial wine on the bow of a ship at Devonport Dockyard, she then said "I name you Exeter. May God guide you and guard and keep all who sail in you." With that the dog shores were released and the new cruiser slid down the ways into the Hamoaze to the tune of Rule Britannia as 10,000 people cheered on.

Ten years later Exeter would take part in one of the most famous battles of the Second World War, the Battle of the River Plate. During the engagement with the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, Exeter received several hits and later retired to the Falklands for repairs. Some of the steel plates used to patch her hull came from another famous ship that was just rotting away, Brunel's Great Britain.

Her end came not at the hands of the Germans, but the Japanese, on Mar. 1, 1942 she was sunk by a Japanese cruiser and destroyer force during the Battle off Bawean Island.