HMS Wager (R98)
HMS Wager on completion, 1944 (IWM)
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Wager |
Ordered | December 1941 |
Builder | John Brown & Company, Clydebank |
Laid down | 20 November 1942 |
Launched | 1 November 1943 |
Commissioned | 14 April 1944 |
Identification | Pennant number: R98 later changed to D298 |
Motto | Spensione provoco - I challenge with a wager |
Honours and awards | Okinawa 1945 |
Fate | Sold to Yugoslavia in October 1956 |
Badge | On a Field White, a cross Blue charged with five bessants within a horseshoe inverted Red. |
History | |
Yugoslavia | |
Name | Pula |
Namesake | City of Pula |
Acquired | October 1956 |
Fate | Decommissioned in 1971 and sold for scrapping |
Notes | Pennant number: R22 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | W-class destroyer |
Displacement | |
Length | 362.75 ft (110.57 m) o/a |
Beam | 35.75 ft (10.90 m) |
Draught | 10 ft (3.0 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h) / 32 knots (59 km/h) full |
Range | 4,675 nmi (8,658 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) |
Complement | 225 |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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HMS Wager was a W-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served in the Second World War. She was sold to the Yugoslav Navy in 1956, renamed Pula, and scrapped in 1971.
Construction and commissioning
Wager was ordered in December 1941 and was laid down at the
Second World War service
On commissioning and work up Wager was assigned to the 27th Destroyer Flotilla and was initially deployed for screening ships of the Home Fleet. She spent July 1944 under refit and sailed in August to join the Eastern Fleet at
Wager took part in further screening operations in January, covering fleet units for
On 4 May Wager sailed for Sydney and was under refit during June 1945. She then transferred to the US 3rd Fleet and was present at the Surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.[1]
Post war
Wager remained with the British Pacific Fleet, based in Hong Kong until December 1945. She returned to Portsmouth in January 1946 where she was reduced to the reserve. She spent two years in the reserve, before transferring to Simonstown, South Africa. She returned to Britain in 1955 before being placed on the disposal list.[2]
Wager and her sister, Kempenfelt, were sold to Yugoslavia in 1956, being towed to Yugoslavia for a refit in October. She was renamed R-22 Pula and was re-commissioned in late 1959.[3] She served until being decommissioned and scrapped in 1971.
Notes
- ^ Mason, Geoffrey B. (2004). Gordon Smith (ed.). "HMS Wager (R 98) - W-class Destroyer". naval-history.net. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
- ISBN 0-9506323-9-2.
- ^ Blackman, Raymond V B (ed.). Jane's Fighting Ships 1963-4. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. p. 443.
References
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Marriott, Leo (1989). Royal Navy Destroyers Since 1945. Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-71101-817-0.
- Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. ISBN 0-85680-010-4.
- Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.