HMS Ulysses (F17): Arctic Convoys, D-Day Gunfire, and a Front Row Seat to a Nuclear Test

Built by Cammell Laird

HMS Ulysses was laid down by Cammell Laird on 14 March 1942, launched on 22 April 1943 and commissioned on 23 December 1943 as a U-class destroyer, joining the 25th Destroyer Flotilla and the Home Fleet, which included a spell supporting the demanding Arctic convoy route to northern Russia.

Gunfire Support at Normandy

Ulysses played her part in the Normandy invasion in June 1944, providing gunfire support to the landings, before being refitted later that year for deployment to the Far East, departing for service with the British Pacific Fleet in March 1945 as the war against Japan entered its final, brutal phase.

Reserve and Recommission

Returning to Britain in 1946, Ulysses entered reserve at Devonport, before a brief recommission in December 1951 for Plymouth's local flotilla, only to return to reserve again in 1953, part of the frequent in-and-out rhythm of postwar naval life as the Admiralty balanced budgets against operational need.

Rebuilt as a Type 15 Frigate

Between 1954 and 1955, Ulysses underwent conversion to a Type 15 anti-submarine frigate at Devonport Dockyard, emerging with the new pennant number F17 and recommissioning on 18 October 1955 to join the 6th Frigate Squadron for operations across the Mediterranean and Home Fleet, including the 1956 Suez Operation.

Witness to a Nuclear Test

In 1958, Ulysses witnessed British nuclear weapons tests during Operation Grapple off Christmas Island, a striking assignment for a ship originally built to fight U-boats and kamikazes, and that same year she was involved in a collision with HMS Undine near Ushant on 27 October.

Scrapped at Plymouth

Decommissioned in 1963, HMS Ulysses spent several years providing accommodation space during the construction of HMS Danae before finally being scrapped at Plymouth in 1970, bringing to a close a career that had spanned Arctic convoys, the Normandy beaches, the Suez Crisis and the dawn of Britain's nuclear age.