The first HMS Zulu was a Tribal class destroyer launched 16 September 1909 at Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard and commissioned in March 1910. She was mined during the First World War, on 27 October 1916 off Dover in a minefield lain by the Imperial German submarine UC-1. Her stern was blown off and sank, but the forward section remained afloat. It was towed into port and attached to the stern of Nubian, which had been torpedoed, to form a new destroyer named HMS Zubian.

The Tribal or F class was a class of destroyers built for the Royal Navy. Twelve ships were built between 1905 and 1908 and all saw service during World War I, where they saw action in the North Sea and English Channel as part of the 6th Flotilla and Dover Patrols.