Unlike her sister ships, she does not appear to have been attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–36 during the Abyssinia Crisis, nor did she enforce the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939.

Foresight carried a maximum of 470 long tons (480 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 6,350 nautical miles (11,760 km; 7,310 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[4] By July 1942, a Type 286 short-range surface search radar was fitted as was a HF/DF radio direction finder mounted on a pole mainmast.

[6] In late June, the 8th DF was ordered to Gibraltar where they were to form the escorts for Force H.[7] A few days later, they participated in the attack on Mers-el-Kébir against the Vichy French ships stationed there.

She returned home for a refit after the battle and was damaged by a near-miss during a German air raid on Liverpool on the night of 21/22 December.

[7] On 31 January 1941, Force H, including Foresight, departed Gibraltar to carry out Operation Picket, an unsuccessful night torpedo attack by eight of Ark Royal's Fairey Swordfish on the Tirso Dam in Sardinia.

The British ships returned to Gibraltar on 4 February and began preparing for Operation Grog, a naval bombardment of Genoa, that was successfully carried out five days later.

The following month she was part of the escort screen, with five other destroyers, for the battleship Queen Elizabeth and the light cruisers Naiad, Fiji and Gloucester which were joining the Mediterranean Fleet.

This was part of Operation Tiger which included a supply convoy taking tanks to Egypt and the transfer of warships to and from the Mediterranean Fleet.

Later that month, she escorted the capital ships of Force H as they searched for the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in the North Atlantic after the Battle of the Denmark Strait on 23 May.

In early April 1942, Foresight, Forester and the light cruiser Edinburgh were part of the close escort for Convoy PQ 14, bound for Murmansk.

On the 12th, she was torpedoed by an Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bomber at 18:45; the hit broke her back, knocked out her steering, and killed one officer and three ratings.