HMS ''Walpole'' (D41) was a W-class destroyer of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. The ship was built under the 1916–17 programme in the 10th Destroyer order. ''Walpole'' was assigned to the

13th Destroyer Flotilla The British 13th Destroyer Flotilla, or Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from November 1915 – November 1918 and again from September 1939 to January 1944. History World War One The flotilla was first form ...

in the

Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from th ...

after completion. she was assigned to the 11th Destroyer Flotilla in September 1939 and served until almost the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Her role was mostly convoy escort duties, but she took part in two combined arms operations (Operations Amsterdam and

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

) and the

D-day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

(Operation Neptune). She hit a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

on 6 January 1945 and was subsequently declared a constructive total loss and broken up at

Thos. W. Ward Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, business primarily working steel, engineering and cement. It began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture ...

Grays, Essex in March 1945.

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walpole, HMS V and W-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Wear 1918 ships World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in January 1945