HMS Vanguard
Battleship HMS Vanguard in 1951. Photo from dad's photo albums.
Battleship HMS Vanguard in 1952. Photo from dad's photo albums.
HMS Gambia, Vanguard and two submarines, Gibraltar, 1952. Photo from dad's photo albums.
HMS Vanguard. Photo from Taff Webb.
HMS Wrangler
HMS Wrangler ~ Tobermory Bay, Mull. This is the ship that dad trained in, so the photo must have been taken in 1949 / 1950. Photo from dad's photo albums.
Both the pictures, above and below, are labelled in the albums as HMS Wrangler - but one has the pennant number D158 and the other R48. I had no idea why this should be, but I received an email from Tom Spowart who served in the Canadian Royal Navy which probably explains it.
"The photos give me impression it was a "V" class destroyer and at the closing of World War II Canada received two such ships from the Royal Navy, HMS Vixen, pennant number R64 and HMS Valentine pennant number R17. After major refits, Vixen was subsequently renamed as HMCS Sioux with pennant number 225 and Valentine became HMCS Algonquin pennant number 224. I served on the Sioux during the early 1950's.
It is quite possible that all "V" class British ships had an "R" pennant number and possible later changed them as they had refits which may have redesignated them as different classes of destroyers."
HMS Wrangler. Photo from dad's photo albums.
HMS Wrangler was a W class destroyer launched on December 30, 1944 and commissioned on July 14, 1944 with the pennant number R48. Between 1948 and 1952 she carried the pennant number D158. Between 1951 and 1952 she was converted to a Type 15 fast anti-submarine frigate and given the pennant number F157. She was sold to South Africa on November 19, 1956 and renamed Vrystaat. She was put into reserve in 1963 and sunk as a submarine target on April 14, 1976.
Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta, 1955. Photo from Ray Holden.
Ray Holden sent me the above photo in January 2002. He writes "The 1st Cruiser Squadron used to tie up on the far side. This picture was taken in 1955 when Sheffield was flagship, that's her second from left. The ship behind is Kenya, this is where Gambia used to tie up behind her flagship which was Liverpool."