[5] The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 5,700 nautical miles (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[6] The primary armament of the Tribal-class destroyers was eight quick-firing (QF) 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark XII guns in four superfiring twin-gun mounts, one pair each fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear.

[10] Authorized as one of seven Tribal-class destroyers under the 1935 Naval Estimates,[11] Gurkha (originally Ghurka) was the second ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy.

Launched on 7 July 1937, Gurkha was commissioned on 21 October at a cost of £340,997 which excluded weapons and communications outfits furnished by the Admiralty.

She was involved in exercises and port visits until the outbreak of war, suffering minor damage in a collision with sister-ship Sikh.

[14] Gurkha, like many of the Tribals, suffered from mechanical defects including problems with the ship's turbines and leaks in the reserve feed tanks, and underwent repair at Thornycroft's Southampton shipyard from December 1939 to January 1940, before rejoining her Flotilla, now based at Scapa Flow.

[16] On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Norway, and Gurkha was part of a naval force (consisting of the cruisers Southampton, Manchester, Glasgow, Sheffield and Aurora, together with the destroyers Afridi, Gurkha, Sikh, Mohawk, Somali, Matabele and Mashona) detached from the Home Fleet to attack Bergen, where a German cruiser was reported.