Ambuscade was one of three Acasta-class destroyers ordered from John Brown & Company of Clydebank as part of the 1911–1912 shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy.

[8][10][c] The ship was fitted with a 2-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft autocannon during the First World War, while in 1918 the torpedo tubes (and possibly one of the 4-inch guns) was removed to allow a heavy depth charge armament to be carried.

[12] On commissioning, Ambuscade, with her sister ships, joined the 4th Destroyer Flotilla of the Royal Navy Home Fleet, based at Portsmouth.

[19] Clashes between the British destroyers and the destroyers and cruisers of the High Seas Fleet's screen continued, causing further serious damage to Lynx and to Hardy, but the encounters caused Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, fearing that the whole Grand Fleet was at sea, to withdraw.

[20] On 21 April 1916, the Grand Fleet sailed on a sortie where it would patrol off the Danish coast with the intention of distracting German attention from Russian minelaying operations in the Baltic Sea.

Heavy fog was encountered, however, and Ambuscade was involved in a collision with the destroyers Ardent and Hardy, with Ardent being damaged severely enough that she had to be towed stern first back to port, while collisions also occurred between the battlecruisers Australia and New Zealand, and between the battleship Neptune and a neutral merchant ship.

Broke was badly damaged by fire from the cruiser Rostock and Westfalen, and collided with the destroyer Sparrowhawk, which was also rammed by Contest and was later scuttled.

[26] At about 00:10 hr, a third attack was made, with Fortune being sunk and Porpoise being damaged, with none of the five torpedoes fired by the British destroyers, including Ambuscade's last, striking home.

[28] The 4th Flotilla, including Ambuscade, left the Grand Fleet and moved to the Humber in July 1916,[29][30][31] with the role of protecting British minesweepers and deterring German minelayers off the East coast of England.

The northern German force torpedoed and sunk a merchant ship (SS Greypoint) anchored outside the entrance to the Downs, and then shelled Ramsgate and Broadstairs before withdrawing.

[39] Ambuscade was still part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in August 1918,[40] but by the end of the war had joined the Northern Patrol Force based at Dundee.