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HMS Whelp spent most of the war assigned to the Eastern and Pacific Fleets. She was present

at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, and was later stationed in Hong
Kong. She was paid off in 1946 and went into reserve.

She was sold to the SAN in 1952 and re-named SAS Simon van der Stel. She was subsequently
converted into a fast anti-submarine frigate in the early 1960s and served as a training ship

from 1958 until 1972, when she was placed back in reserve. (Fig. 1.42).

She was recommissioned with a skeleton crew in 1975, for a refit in Durban, but she was

deemed too expensive to repair and was scrapped by Sandock-Austral (Defence, Arms, and

Ship-builders) in late 1976.

SAS Jan van Riebeeck (HMS Wessex)

HMS Wessex was laid down on 25 October 1942, launched on 2 September 1943, and

commissioned on 11 May 1944. (Fig. 1.43). She spent most of the war assigned to the Eastern
and Pacific fleets. She arrived back in the UK in December 1945 and was reduced to reserve.

In 1947 she was transferred to Simon’s Town to form the South Atlantic Reserve Force. Due
to the continued shortage of manpower she was placed in reserve in 1953 and remained in

reserve for most of her career.

In 1960 she was purchased by South Africa and re-named SAS Jan van Riebeeck and was

converted into a fast anti-submarine frigate between 1964 and 1966. In 1971 she was converted

to serve as a training ship and remained in that role until decommissioned in 1975. She was
sunk as a target on 25 March 1980, sixty nautical miles (110 km) south of Cape Town. The

ship was initially struck by a Skerpioen missile fired from the fast attack craft SAS Jim Fouche
from over the horizon, but she had to be finished off with gunfire. (Fig. 1.44).

SAS Vrystaat (HMS Wrangler)

Like Whelp and Wessex, HMS Wrangler was a Wager Class destroyer. (Fig. 1.45). She was
laid down on 23 September 1942, and launched on 29 September 1943, and completed on 14

July 1944. She spent most of the war in the Far East escorting British aircraft carriers. Together
with HMS Whelp she was part of the armada of more than 300 Allied warships assembled in

Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945.

After the war she served as a training ship until she was converted into a Type 15 frigate in the
early 1950s and subsequently sold to the SA Navy later that decade. (Fig. 1.46). The ship was