Born the son of Sir Edward Herbert and Margaret Smith, daughter of Thomas Smith, Herbert joined the Royal Navy in 1663. He was appointed a lieutenant in the third-rate HMS "Defiance" and saw action at the St. James's Day Battle in July 1666 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Promoted to post-captain in 1666, he was given command of the fifth-rate HMS "Pembroke" in April 1667, of the fourth-rate HMS "Constant Warwick" in September 1668 and of the fourth-rate HMS "Dragon" in May 1672. He went on to be captain of the third-rate HMS "Dreadnought" in spring 1672 and commanded her at the Battle of Solebay in May 1672 during the Franco-Dutch War. After that he took command of the third-rate HMS "Cambridge" in October 1673 and was severely injured while commanding her at the Battle of Schooneveld in June 1673. He commissioned the third-rate HMS "Rupert" in February 1678 and then commanded a squadron tasked with defending Tangier from the Moors in December 1679.