The first HMS Zulu was a Tribal (or F-) class destroyer launched 16 September 1909 at Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard and commissioned in March 1910.

[2][3] 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.

[4][13] In February 1914, the Tribals (including Zulu), whose range was too short for effective open sea operations, were sent to Dover, forming the 6th Destroyer Flotilla.

[15] On 24 April 1916, Zulu took place in a large scale operation off the Belgian coast to lay mines and nets, in an attempt to limit use of the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge to German U-boats.

The destroyer Melpomene was badly damaged by shellfire from German coast-defence batteries, while one drifter, Clover Bank, was sunk by a mine.

[15][19][20] It was decided to join the front end of Zulu with the stern of Nubian, another Tribal-class destroyer that had had her bows blown off by a torpedo during the Battle of Dover Strait on the night of 26/27 October 1916.