She served for five years as HMS Mermaid (F76) before being purchased by Malaysia, where she replaced another ex-British frigate also called Hang Tuah.

Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders on the River Clyde in Scotland, the new frigate was still on the slipway, when in February 1966, a military coup in Ghana ousted President Nkrumah; the new government cancelled the order due to the excessive cost of around GBP 5 million.

In 1971, the newly elected Conservative government decided that by purchasing the ship for the Royal Navy, they could provide an indirect subsidy to a vital shipbuilder.

[4] The ship had a displacement of 2,300 tons as standard, had a maximum speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) and a complement of 177 officers and men in Royal Navy service.

[5] She was commissioned on 16 May 1973 into the Royal Navy as HMS Mermaid with the pennant number F76 and after working up was dispatched to the Far East where she was based at Singapore.

[9] In April 1977 she was transferred to the Royal Malaysian Navy and commissioned at Southampton on 22 July,[10] and named Hang Tuah after a legendary 15th century Malaccan warrior and Laksamana (admiral).

In April 2017, Hang Tuah was one of the Malaysian Navy ships which were opened to the public at the "Armada 2017" event at Lumut naval base, where she celebrated her 40th anniversary.