HMS Whelp (R37)
Encyclopedia
HMS Whelp was a W-class
W and Z class destroyer
The W and Z class was a class of sixteen destroyers of the Royal Navy launched in 1943–1944. They were constructed as two flotillas, with names beginning with "W-" and "Z-", respectively, although, like the preceding U and V class, two of the flotilla leaders were named after historical naval...
destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
(RN) that was ordered and launched during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After completing trials in home waters, she joined the 27th Destroyer Flotilla, which was sent to the Far East via the Mediterranean. Whelp's duties with the British Pacific Fleet
British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...
were to escort the major ships, such as aircraft carriers and battleships, during operations by the Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
against Japanese oil refineries in Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
and airfields near Okinawa. She was present at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
and later in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. She was paid off in January 1946 and went into reserve.
Whelp was sold to the South African Navy
South African Navy
The South African Navy is the navy of the Republic of South Africa.-Formation:The South African Navy can trace its official origins back to the SA Naval Service, which was established on 1 April 1922....
on 23 February 1952 and renamed Simon van der Stel. She was subsequently modernised in 1963 with a limited conversion to an anti-submarine frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
. She remained in the South African fleet until 1976, when she was scrapped at Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
.
Construction
Whelp was one of eight W-classW and Z class destroyer
The W and Z class was a class of sixteen destroyers of the Royal Navy launched in 1943–1944. They were constructed as two flotillas, with names beginning with "W-" and "Z-", respectively, although, like the preceding U and V class, two of the flotilla leaders were named after historical naval...
destroyers constructed under the War Emergency Programme
War Emergency Programme destroyers
The War Emergency Programme destroyers were 112 destroyers built for the British Royal Navy during World War II. They were based on the hull and machinery of the earlier J, K and N class destroyer. Due to supply problems and the persistent failure by the Royal Navy to develop a suitable...
: Whelp and her sister ships made up the 9th Emergency Flotilla.
She was launched from the yards of Hawthorn Leslie and Company
Hawthorn Leslie and Company
R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilding and locomotive manufacturer. The Company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982.-History:...
, Hebburn
Hebburn
Hebburn is a small town situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in North East England, sandwiched between the towns of Jarrow and Bill Quay...
on 3 June 1943.
From March 1942, the destroyer was adopted by the civil community of Wembley
Wembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
, Middlesex.
During her active service, her captain and first officer were Commander G. A. F. Norfolk and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten (now Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh), respectively.
Name
Her name is taken as a continuation of ten earlier Lyon's WhelpLyon's Whelp
In 1628, the very wealthy Duke of Buckingham built a private fleet of 10 three masted, armed pinnaces each of which carried the name Lion's Whelp. At least one Lion's Whelp participated in the English attempt to relieve the Huguenot citadel of La Rochelle during the Anglo-French War...
s,Mason states that Whelp was "... the 11th RN warship to carry this name which dates from 1627." There were ten 17th century warships acquired from George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
, all called Lyon's Whelp
Lyon's Whelp
In 1628, the very wealthy Duke of Buckingham built a private fleet of 10 three masted, armed pinnaces each of which carried the name Lion's Whelp. At least one Lion's Whelp participated in the English attempt to relieve the Huguenot citadel of La Rochelle during the Anglo-French War...
or Lion's Whelp. There may (sources are uncertain) have been two earlier naval ships of the name, both lost or disposed of by 1625, which would make the Second World War Whelp the 13th of the name. inheriting the earlier ships' honours. "Lyon's (or Lion's) whelp" is an archaic term for a lion cub, and may have had Biblical connotations,Genesis, ch.49, v.9: "Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?" (King James' version) be a play on the coat of arms (a lion rampant) of the Villiers family, or both.
Second World War
After commissioning in 1944, Whelp was temporarily attached to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the Home Fleet. She participated in exercises for the Normandy landings in May 1944 and in June sailed on replenishment missions for the garrison on SpitsbergenSpitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
.Other ships deployed on Operation Gearbox included the cruiser and the destroyers , , , , , , , and . On her release from these operations on 4 July, Whelp joined the 27th Destroyer Flotilla (27thDF) on the Clyde
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At...
, which subsequently sailed as escort to the battleship from Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
on 2 August. Ramillies was to provide bombardment for the landings in the south of France
Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...
, but the destroyers left her at Algiers as they were to be deployed elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
In September, Whelp and the 27thDF sailed to Trincomalee
Trincomalee
Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...
in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where, on 15 October they joined the Eastern Fleet. In October and November 1944, Whelp escorted the fleet's aircraft carriers and the auxiliary tanker RFA Wave Prince
RFA Wave Prince (A207)
RFA Wave Prince was a Wave-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was built by Sir J. Laing & Sons Ltd at Sunderland and was employed as an underway replenishment oiler. During 1961-1962 she was modified extensively, laid up at Devonport in August 1965 and arrived in...
in air operations against various shore targets.
On 22 November the ships of the 27thDF were among the founding units of the British Pacific Fleet
British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...
(BPF). In early January 1945, Whelp was amongst the destroyer screen for the British aircraft carriers during the Operation Lentil
Operation Lentil (Sumatra)
Operation Lentil was an air raid by British carrier based aircraft on oil installations at Pangkalan Brandan on Sumatra on January 4 1945. Two aircraft carriers, HMS Indomitable and Indefatigable were escorted by four cruisers Operation Lentil was an air raid by British carrier based aircraft on...
air raids on the refineries at Pangkalan Brandan
Pangkalan Brandan
Pangkalan Brandan is a port town in North Sumatra province, Indonesia, forty miles north west of Medan, close to the boundary with Aceh. The area's population is estimated at around 21,000....
. She was then detached to tow the damaged submarine to Trincomalee, arriving on 8 January.
On 16 January, the BPF sailed for Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. While en route, the BPF air raided vital Japanese oil installations at Pladjoe and Soengi-Gerong (Operation Meridian I & II
Operation Meridian
During World War II, Operation Meridian was a series of British air attacks conducted on 24 January and 29 January 1945 on Japanese-held oil refineries at Palembang, on Sumatra...
) on 24 and 29 January; during which, Whelp contributed to the screens for the major ships and recovered two ditched airmen, one of whom, Sub-lieutenant Roy Halliday
Roy Halliday
Vice-Admiral Sir Roy William "Gus" Halliday KBE, DSC was a British naval pilot who saw service in the Second World War, in the British Pacific Fleet and subsequently became Director-General Intelligence in Britain's Defence Intelligence Staff between 1981 and 1984.-War service:Halliday studied at...
from , survived. During this period, there were three at-sea refuellings. The BPF arrived at Sydney on 10 February and prepared for deployment with the United States 5th Fleet
United States 5th Fleet
The Fifth Fleet of the United States Navy is responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and coast off East Africa as far south as Kenya. It shares a commander and headquarters with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command . The commander of the 5th Fleet is currently Vice...
. These included conforming to USN hull classification numbers
Hull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...
: Whelp′s pennant number
Pennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
was temporarily changed to D33.
The BPF arrived at their forward base at Manus Island
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
on 7 March, where they waited for formal approval from United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
(USN) Admiral Ernest King
Ernest King
Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King was Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations during World War II. As COMINCH, he directed the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the U.S...
. They finally sailed for their operational deployment on 17 March. Whelp′s station was at the rear of the fleet's formation, to recover ditched aircrew. Her radar had developed faults and she was briefly detached for repairs on 25 March, rejoining the Fleet five days later. Whelp witnessed kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attacks on the British aircraft carriers on Easter Sunday.There is a discrepancy between sources. Mason's account states that Whelp was returned to Melbourne for repairs in March and implies that she missed operations off the Sakishima Islands, not rejoining the Fleet until July. Gatrell's personal account is more detailed and gives dates and incidents off Sakishima. Gatrell also records a period at Melbourne for repair, but is specific that it was shorter than Mason states. Gatrell is supported by Stonebridge's account, taken from contemporaneous notes. For these reasons, Gatrell is preferred.
In May, the BPF returned to Sydney, via Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
, for repairs and replenishment. Whelp, however, was detached to Melbourne for repairs where she stayed until July, allowing her crew some shore-leave. She rejoined the BPF at Sydney (now attached to the United States 3rd Fleet
United States 3rd Fleet
The Third Fleet is one of seven numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific ocean areas including the Bering Sea, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and a sector of the Arctic...
) and on 31 July escorted to Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, where Admiral Bruce Fraser
Bruce Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape
Admiral of the Fleet Bruce Austin Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape GCB, KBE was a senior British admiral during World War II.-Early naval career:Fraser joined the Royal Navy as a Cadet on 15 January 1904...
, CinC
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
BPF conferred with U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz. The British ships continued to Manus, arriving on 3 August.
Whelp was not part of the screens for the aircraft carriers off Japan during operations there, as she continued to act as an escort for HMS Duke of York, transporting Admiral Fraser between Manus and Guam. She was, however, present at Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
for the formal surrender of the Japanese
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
on 2 September. Released British prisoners of war visited Whelp. She left Tokyo on 9 September and, following an overnight stop at Okinawa on 11/12 September, arrived at Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
with Admiral Fraser aboard. The Japanese forces at Hong Kong surrendered on 16 September.
Post-war service
During October 1945, Whelp was stationed at Hong Kong with the 27thDF on anti-pirate patrol along the Chinese coast. On 12 November, she left Hong Kong for Sydney, via Darwin. She sailed for Britain on 7 December, via SuezSuez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
, and arrived at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
on 17 January 1946. She was paid off and left in reserve until November 1947 when she was transferred, still in reserve, to Simonstown, the former British naval base in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Transfer to South African Navy
In 1952, Whelp was sold to South Africa as the replacement for HMSAS Natal (formerly HMS Loch Cree). Whelp was renamed Simon van der Stel, after the 17th century colonistSimon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel was the last Commander and first Governor of the Cape Colony, the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.-Background:...
reputed to be the founder of the South African wine industry. Much of Simon van der Stel′s service was as a "grey ambassador", on good-will visits to Europe and Europe's African colonies, including a 147 day cruise to Europe in 1954. This role, however, declined as South Africa became increasingly isolated during the apartheid years.
Simon van der Stel was placed in reserve from 1957, but was modernised as a Type 15 frigate
Type 15 frigate
The Type 15 frigate was a class of British anti-submarine frigates of the Royal Navy. They were conversions based on the hulls of World War II-era destroyers built to the standard War Emergency Programme "utility" design.-History:...
(in common with other destroyers of her generation) from 1962 to 1964, and re-commissioned in February 1964. She now had helicopter facilities, which were used by South Africa's 22 Flight (later 22 Squadron
22 Squadron SAAF
22 Squadron is a squadron of the South African Air Force. It is currently a maritime helicopter squadron operating Lynx and Oryx helicopters for the South African Navy.-History:...
).
Simon van der Stel was scrapped in 1976 at Durban.