[1] Lively was propelled by two triple expansion steam engines, fed by four Normand boilers, rated at 6,250 ihp (4,660 kW) to give the contract speed of 30 knots.

[15] On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyers were to be grouped into classes designated by letters based on contract speed and appearance.

[24] On 3 November 1914, Lively was taking part in a routine patrol off the Norfolk coast near the port of Yarmouth, as was the destroyer Leopard, while the torpedo gunboat Halcyon was nearby searching for mines.

[25][26][27] On 8 November 1914, Lively was one of 12 destroyers that were transferred from the 7th Flotilla to reinforce the local defences of the Grand Fleet's base at Scapa Flow in Orkney.

[32] On 10 October 1918, RMS Leinster, a steamer operating as a mailship and ferry between Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), Ireland and Holyhead, Anglesey, was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-123.

Lively, on patrol off the Skerries, Dublin, responded to the news of Lienster's sinking, and along with the destroyers Mallard and Seal set out to rescue survivors.