The Battle-class was developed as a result of operational experience in the early years of the Second World War, which had shown that the Royal Navy's existing destroyers had inadequate anti-aircraft protection, and in particular, lacked a modern dual-purpose main gun armament, capable of dealing with both surface targets and air attack, with guns lacking the high elevation mountings necessary to deal with dive bombers.

766 long tons (778 t) of fuel oil was carried, giving an endurance of 4,400 nmi (5,100 mi; 8,100 km) at 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h).

[6][12][13] The end of the Second World War in August 1945 resulted in the decision to cancel 16 of the 1943 Battles, with construction of the remaining ships slowed.

[6][12][13] On commissioning, Corunna joined the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Home Fleet, but was temporarily laid up in reserve for several months from October 1947 owing to a manning crisis in the Royal Navy.

[citation needed] Corunna, with the rest of the Squadron, returned to the region in 1956 and took part in the Suez Crisis.

On Friday 17 January 1975 "Corunna" was photographed alongside the partially demolished D86 HMS Agincourt at Sunderland.