HMS Wallace (D3A): A Flotilla Leader Too Late for One War, in Time for Prince Philip

Completed Just After the Armistice

HMS Wallace was built by J I Thornycroft at Woolston in Hampshire, laid down on 15 August 1917, launched on 26 October 1918 and commissioned on 14 February 1919, a Thornycroft-type flotilla leader that arrived just after the First World War had ended and so saw no combat in the conflict she had been built for.

Into the Russian Civil War

Wallace led the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, later renamed the 5th Destroyer Flotilla in 1925, and deployed to the Baltic in 1919 during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, supporting operations against Soviet forces in exactly the kind of dangerous, mine-strewn waters that claimed several British ships during that campaign.

The Chanak Crisis

Between 1922 and 1923, Wallace was deployed to Turkey during the Chanak Crisis, a tense standoff between Britain and Turkish nationalist forces that brought Europe close to renewed war so soon after the last one ended, before returning to more routine service and modernisation with the Atlantic Fleet through the interwar years.

A Future Duke of Edinburgh Aboard

Converted to a fast anti-aircraft escort between 1938 and 1939, Wallace spent the Second World War mainly escorting convoys along the East Coast of Great Britain, performing rescue operations and taking part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, in July 1943.

During this period, a young Prince Philip, later Duke of Edinburgh, served aboard, adding Wallace to the list of ships that briefly carried the future royal consort during his wartime naval service.

Scrapped After Collision Damage

Increasing mechanical problems marked Wallace's final years, compounded by collision damage suffered in March 1945. She was placed in reserve in 1945 and broken up later that year by Clayton and Davie on the Tyne, bringing to a close the career of a ship whose service had spanned a war she missed and a war she saw through to the end.