One of her first duties was to deploy from Scapa Flow on 22 August with Lightning and the cruiser Curacoa to escort the damaged French submarine Rubis back to Dundee.

[2] On 24 September she sailed from Gibraltar as part of the escort for Ark Royal, and the battleships Nelson, Rodney and Prince of Wales, which were supporting Operation Halberd.

She was then based out of Malta, and on 8 November she sailed with Lance and the cruisers Aurora and Penelope to intercept an enemy supply convoy in the central Mediterranean.

The following day the convoy, consisting of the German supply ships Maritza and Procidas, and two escorting Italian torpedo boats, was attacked and both merchants sunk.

[2] The following day they moved into the range of an Axis supply convoy being escorted by several Italian capital ships, and the First Battle of Sirte broke out.

[2] Lively spent January and February escorting relief convoys to and from Malta, before sailing with a force to locate a reported damaged Italian cruiser on 9 March.

[5] The force was ordered to return if spotted by enemy aircraft, as there was only limited allied air cover available from a Bristol Beaufort.

[2] On 11 May the British force came under heavy air attack, with Lively being dive-bombed by a squadron of German Junkers Ju 88s armed with 1,100lbs and 550lbs bombs.

[2] Despite a wartime career lasting less than a year since her commissioning, she won five battle honours: Atlantic 1941, Mediterranean 1941, Malta Convoys 1941-2, Libya 1942, and Sirte 1942.