HMS Wessex (R78)

HMS Wessex (R78) was a W-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was to have been named HMS Zenith but was renamed in January 1943 before launching. She was launched on 2 October 1943 at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company's shipyard in Govan, Scotland and commissioned on 11 May 1944.

Wartime
On completion Wessex was attached to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla with the Home Fleet. She was deployed with the Flotilla for screening of the Home Fleet ships providing distant cover for the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 (Operation Neptune). In July she was transferred to the 27th Destroyer Flotilla and prepared for service with the Eastern Fleet. She completed a refit in Portsmouth in August, left on 4 August with HMS Whelp to join the Eastern Fleet at Ceylon.

During September and October she was escorting convoys in the Indian Ocean and was deployed as part of the screening forces for the British carriers involved in Operations Millet, Outflank and Meridian. In 1945, she was part of the British Pacific Fleet, where she continued to escort ships and screen operations, as well as spending some time as a radar picket ship. Towards the end of the war she underwent a refit at Auckland.

Postwar
After the end of the war, Wessex was temporarily assigned to operations to repatriate allied nationals captured during the war, and supported the occupying forces until 27 October 1945. She then returned to the UK via Australia, arriving at Devonport on 28 December. She was then paid off in January 1946 and reduced to the reserve at Plymouth. She was then transferred to Simonstown, South Africa in 1948, to continue her lay up.

Wessex was transferred to the South African Navy on 29 March 1950 and renamed Jan van Riebeeck. She was modernised with a partial conversion into a frigate between 1964 and 1966. She continued in service until 1978 when she was put on the Disposal List. She was finally expended as a missile target on 25 March 1980.