Allied Warships

HMS Wessex (ii) (R 78)

Destroyer of the W class

Navy	The Royal Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	W
Pennant	R 78
Built by	Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Govan, Scotland)
Ordered	Dec 1941
Laid down	25 Oct 1942
Launched	2 Sep 1943
Commissioned	11 May 1944
End service
History	Sold to South Africa on 29 March 1950 being renamed Jan Van Riebeeck.

Commands listed for HMS Wessex (ii) (R 78)

Please note that we're still working on this section.

	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. Richard Horncastle, RN	27 Mar 1944	Nov 1945

You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.

Notable events involving Wessex (ii) include:

12 Oct 1944
During 12 and 13 October, HMS Shalimar (Lt. W.G. Meeke, DSC, MBE, RN), conducted exercises off Trincomalee. These included night exercises. Paractice attacks were made on HMS Wager (Lt.Cdr. R.C. Watkin, RN) and HMS Wessex (Lt.Cdr. R. Horncastle, RN). (1)

25 Mar 1980
She was paid off into reserve in 1975. Expended as missile target on 25 March, 1980. (2)