Hostile was laid down by
Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at
Greenock,
Scotland, on 27 February 1935, launched on 24 January 1936, and completed on 10 September 1936. Excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament, the ship cost £253,382. She was assigned to the
2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Mediterranean Fleet upon commissioning.
Hostile patrolled Spanish waters in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War enforcing the edicts of the
Non-Intervention Committee. The ship received an overhaul at
Gibraltar between 17 November and 15 December 1937. She resumed patrolling Spanish waters in 1938 and 1939. After the end of the Spanish Civil War,
Hostile was refitted in
Sheerness Dockyard between 31 May and 26 July 1939. She returned to the Mediterranean and was in
Malta when World War II began. In October the ship was transferred to Freetown to hunt for German commerce raiders in the South Atlantic with Force K. The ship and her
half-sisters, , , and , rendezvoused with the
battlecruiser , the
aircraft carrier , and the
light cruiser on 17 December. They refuelled in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before proceeding to the estuary of the
River Plate in case the damaged German
pocket battleship attempted to escape from
Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had taken refuge after losing the
Battle of the River Plate.
Hostile was overhauled at
Chatham Dockyard between 26 January and 29 March 1940 and then rejoined the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, now assigned to the
Home Fleet. During the First Battle of Narvik on 10 April the ship torpedoed merchant ships moored there (eleven German and collaterally one British, two Norwegian and two Swedish). and engaged the and badly damaged her, hitting her at least five times.
Hostile was only hit once, but the shell did little damage. She escorted her badly damaged
sister ship, , to the repair base set up at
Flakstadøya in the
Lofoten Islands.
Hostile briefly escorted the
battleship before she returned to
Rosyth for repairs between 27 April and 4 May. The ship briefly returned to Norwegian waters, where she again escorted
Warspite, before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in mid-May. The ship, together with her sister, , and the destroyers and , were ordered to Gibraltar on 22 August where they were to temporarily join
Force H.
Hostile struck an Italian mine en route on the early morning of 23 August off
Cap Bon that broke her back. The explosion killed five men and wounded three others.
Mohawk took off the survivors while
Hero fired two torpedoes to scuttle her. ==Notes==