HMS Mohawk was one of 16 Tribal-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy shortly before the beginning of Second World War in 1939. Completed in 1938 the ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was briefly involved enforcing the arms blockade on the combatants in the Spanish Civil War in early 1939. Mohawk returned home shortly after the start of the Second World War and was assigned convoy escort duties, during which she was damaged by German bombers. She played an active role in the Norwegian Campaign of April–May 1940, escorting convoys to and from Norway.

The ship was assigned to the 14th Destroyer Flotilla (DF) of the Mediterranean Fleet in June and began escorting convoys to Malta and Greece. Mohawk played a minor role in the Battle of Calabria in July and the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. The following month the ship was sunk by torpedoes fired by an Italian destroyer off the Tunisian coast as the 14th DF attacked an Italian convoy, with the loss of 41 of her crew.

The Tribals were intended to counter the large destroyers being built abroad and to improve the firepower of the existing destroyer flotillas and were thus significantly larger and more heavily armed than the preceding I class. The ships displaced 1,891 long tons (1,921 t) at standard load and 2,519 long tons (2,559 t) at deep load. They had an overall length of 377 feet (114.9 m), a beam of 36 feet 6 inches (11.13 m) and a draught of 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m). The destroyers were powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by three Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of 44,000 shaft horsepower (33,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). During her sea trials Mohawk made 36.2 knots (67.0 km/h; 41.7 mph) from 44,078 shp (32,869 kW) at a displacement of 2,017 long tons (2,049 t). The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 5,700 nautical miles (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). The ships' complement consisted of 190 officers and ratings, although the flotilla leaders carried an extra 20 officers and men consisting of the Captain (D) and his staff.

The primary armament of the Tribal-class destroyers was eight quick-firing (QF) 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark XII guns in four superfiring twin-gun mounts, one pair each fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. The mounts had a maximum elevation of 40°. For anti-aircraft (AA) defence, they carried a single quadruple mount for the 40-millimetre (1.6 in) QF two-pounder Mk II "pom-pom" gun and two quadruple mounts for the 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) Mark III machine gun. Low-angle fire for the main guns was controlled by the director-control tower (DCT) on the bridge roof that fed data acquired by it and the 12-foot (3.7 m) rangefinder on the Mk II Rangefinder/Director directly aft of the DCT to an analogue mechanical computer, the Mk I Admiralty Fire Control Clock. Anti-aircraft fire for the main guns was controlled by the Rangefinder/Director which sent data to the mechanical Fuze Keeping Clock.

The ships were fitted with a single above-water quadruple mount for 21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes. The Tribals were not intended as anti-submarine ships, but they were provided with ASDIC, one depth charge rack and two throwers for self-defence, although the throwers were not mounted in all ships. Twenty depth charges was the peacetime allotment, but this increased to 30 during wartime.

Heavy losses to German air attack during the Norwegian Campaign demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the Tribals' anti-aircraft suite and the RN decided in May 1940 to replace 'X' mount with two QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mark XVI dual-purpose guns in a twin-gun mount. To better control the guns, the existing rangefinder/director was modified to accept a Type 285 gunnery radar as they became available. The number of depth charges was increased to 46 early in the war, and still more were added later. To increase the firing arcs of the AA guns, the rear funnel was shortened and the mainmast was reduced to a short pole mast.

Authorized as one of seven Tribal-class destroyers under the 1935 Naval Estimates, Mohawk was the eleventh ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. The ship was ordered on 10 March 1936 from John I. Thornycroft & Company and was laid down on 16 July at the company's Woolston, Southampton, shipyard. Launched on 5 October 1937, Mohawk was completed on 7 September 1938 and commissioned two days later at a cost of £339,585 which excluded weapons and communications outfits furnished by the Admiralty. Under the command of Commander Richard Frank Jolly, the ship was initially assigned to the 1st Tribal Destroyer Flotilla with the Mediterranean Fleet and arrived at Malta on 13 October. The following month she patrolled the Malta-Egypt leg of the Royal Air Force (RAF)'s Long-Range Development Flight of three Vickers Wellesley bombers that were preparing to break the world flight distance record by flying from Egypt to Australia non-stop. At the end of the month, Mohawk ferried the British Ambassador to Turkey back to Istanbul from his annual visit to the Helles Memorial and then cruised through the Aegean Sea before returning to Malta.

The flotilla sailed to Gibraltar where the Mediterranean and Home Fleets were gathering for combined exercises. These ran from 28 February to 18 March 1939 and involved dozens of ships from both commands. Mohawk then patrolled the waters off the Mediterranean Spanish coast during the Spanish Civil War to enforce the arms embargo imposed on both sides by the Non-Intervention Committee. On 23 March the ship rescued the crew of a damaged German floatplane that had been forced to land off Barcelona and returned them to Majorca. When Fascist Italy invaded Albania on 7 April, the Mediterranean Fleet was mobilised and remained on a war footing for most of May. During this time the 1st Tribal Destroyer Flotilla was redesignated as the 4th Destroyer Flotilla. By July 7 tensions had decreased such that Mohawk and her sisters Gurkha, Afridi, and Sikh were able to escort the aircraft carrier Glorious on a visit to Athens, Greece. The following month, the fleet spent a week exercising in the area between the Greek island of Crete and British Cyprus. As tensions rose in Europe later in August, the fleet was mobilised and continued to train in preparation for war with Italy. As part of its preparations, the Admiralty had closed the Mediterranean to British shipping and Mohawk and seven other destroyers escorted one group of ships that had collected at Suez, Egypt, through the Red Sea to reduce the congestion.