The ship was damaged by a mine off Cape Bon in the Strait of Sicily while on passage from Malta to Gibraltar on 23 August 1940.

Hostile carried a maximum of 470 long tons (480 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 5,530 nautical miles (10,240 km; 6,360 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[2] 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.

[5] 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.

She escorted her badly damaged sister ship, Hotspur, to the repair base set up at Flakstadøya in the Lofoten Islands.

[9] The ship briefly returned to Norwegian waters, where she again escorted Warspite, before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in mid-May.

[9] On 9 July Hostile participated in the Battle of Calabria as an escort for the heavy ships of Force C and unsuccessfully engaged Italian destroyers, suffering no damage.