Laid down as M14, she was named after the French general of the Napoleonic Wars Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult.

Designed for inshore operations along the sandbank strewn Belgian coastline, Marshal Soult was equipped with two 15-inch (380 mm) battleship guns.

Marshal Soult performed numerous bombardment operations against German positions in Flanders, including during the First Ostend Raid in April 1918.

Her armament was removed in March 1940 and was later fitted to the new Roberts-class monitor Roberts, which was completed in 1941.

She served throughout the Second World War as a depot ship for trawlers at Portsmouth until being sold on 10 July 1946 and scrapped at Troon.