Recruit was laid down as yard number 290, on 18 October 1895, and launched on 22 August 1896. Like the other Thomson destroyers built under the 1895–1896 programme, she had problems making her contract speed of 30 knots, and was therefore lengthened by , giving an overall length of and a length between perpendiculars of . Displacement increased to light and full load. She was completed and accepted by the Royal Navy in October 1900, the last of this group to be completed.
