In October 1938, Nubian's completion was delayed when it was suggested that she be used in still-water rolling tests. The original idea was to place a ten ton weight on the side of the ship, then suddenly remove it with a crane. During the momentum of righting, measurements could be taken. This plan was eventually discarded as it was deemed to be dubious in nature.

Gunsights were late in arriving so Nubian was last to join her flotilla at Malta on 2nd February 1939. She served in Cossack's division which was preparing for war during the Albanian Crisis, cruising the eastern Mediterranean, and practicing fleet and flotilla maneuvers. When war began, she was employed on convoy escort and contraband control in that area. After having turbine problems corrected at Southhampton, England Nubian was called on to carry out balloon trials at Spithead at the end of October 1939. It was hoped that towing a kite balloon would discourage low level air attack. The `Nubians' concluded that the trials were successful as most coastal convoys began flying `barrage' balloons.

At the end of 1939, Nubian reported to Scapa Flow and then to her base at Rosyth, England. Here, she started duties as a Norwegian convoy escort and was also actively involved in the Norwegian campaign. This was her first of many battle honours awarded, Norway 1940.

By 14 May 1940, Nubian arrived in Alexandria ,Egypt to join the 14th Destroyer Flotilla. The war against Italy began on 10/11 June and the Fleet carried out sweeps in the eastern Mediterranean and along the North African coast. While screening HMS Warspite off the Toe of Italy, the Italian Navy engaged in a skirmish in which the Italians withdrew. Nubian was awarded her second battle honour, Calabria 1940.

When she and other British ships destroyed an enemy convoy in the Straits of Otranto, another battle honour was awarded , Mediterranean 1940. The remainder of Nubian's battle honours will be mentioned here without elaboration: Libya 1940, Malta convoys 1941, Matapan 1941, Mediterranean 1941, Greece 1941, Crete 1941, Mediterranean 1943, Sicily 1943, Salerno 1943, Arctic 1944 and finally Burma 1945.

Nubian left the United Kingdom in January 1945 on her way to Alexandria in an effort to make her more hospitable for the tropics. Sailing to the Indian Ocean, she rendezvoused with her sister ships HMS Tartar and HMS Eskimo. Jointly, the three ships helped the British Army clear the Japanese out of their small Burmese coastal fortifications.

After the war ended, Nubian and Tartar arrived home by way of the Mediterranean. For a while, Nubian served as a Reserve Fleet accommodation ship alongside Whale Island, Portsmouth England. By 1948 she was empty and lifeless. Condemned as a target vessel in Loch Striven, she was eventually scrapped at Briton Ferry, Wales on 25 June 1949.