HMS Viking was one of five Tribal-class destroyers ordered as part of the Royal Navy's 1907–08 shipbuilding programme.

[1] The Tribal-class destroyers were to be powered by steam turbines and use oil-fuel rather than coal, and be capable of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph), but detailed design was left to the builders, which meant that individual ships of the class differed greatly.

[2][10] In February 1914, the Tribals, whose range was too short for effective open sea operations, were sent to Dover, forming the 6th Destroyer Flotilla.

[12][13] In October 1914, the Dover Patrol was deployed to help support Belgian ground forces during the Battle of the Yser, carrying out shore bombardment operations.

[17][b] On 4 March 1915, the German submarine U-8 became caught in the Dover straits nets, and the resulting disturbance was spotted by the drifter Roburn, which called up the nearby destroyer patrol, including Viking, Ghurka, Maori and Nubian.

[c] [21] On the night of 26/27 October 1916, German torpedo boats of their Flanders Flotilla carried out a large scale raid into the English Channel, hoping to attack the drifters watching the anti-submarine nets of the Dover Barrage, and to sink Allied shipping in the Channel.

This caused Mohawk to block the course of Viking when she attempted to pursue the German torpedo boats, allowing them to escape unharmed.

[22] In 1916, as an attempt to counter the superior range of the 10.5 cm (4.1-in) SK L/45 guns of German torpedo boats, Viking was experimentally rearmed, replacing the forward 4-inch gun with a BL 6-inch Mk VII (alongside HMS Swift, she was one of only two Royal Navy destroyers ever to carry such a weapon).