Fact Sheet 4
HMS Whimbrel and ENS Tarek (Tariq)
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| Visit by Admiral Alan West First Sea Lord March 2005 (MoD) |
HMS WHIMBREL weighing 643.5 tons, was named and launched on 25th August 1942 from Yarrow’s Glasgow (on the same day HMCS HAIDA, a tribal class destroyer now preserved in Toronto, was launched from the Swan Hunter Newcastle Yard).
HMS WHIMBREL served with Captain Johnnie Walker’s famous Second Support Group, escorting Atlantic and Russian Convoys. She supported the Normandy and Sicily landings, and ended the War in the Pacific.
Between 1946 and 1949 Britain disposed of 65 frigates and destroyers, most of which had been only designed “for the duration”. HMS WHIMBREL along with her armament and stores, was sold to Egypt for £247,500 (about £6.2M at today’s prices), and on 12th December 1949 sailed from Chatham to Alexandria under her new name of EL MALEK FAROUK EL-AWAL. Her name was changed to ENS TAREK (sometimes spelt TARIQ) in 1954 after Gamal Nasser came to power.
ENS TAREK served with the Egyptian Navy for the subsequent 57 years. She managed to keep out of harms way during the 1956 Suez conflict when ENS DOMIAT (the ex-River class HMS NITH) was sunk by HMS NEWFOUNDLAND and HMS DIANA. During the 1967 Arab/Israeli 6-day War TAREK attacked and damaged the Israeli submarine TANIN. She is still afloat and still in commission. She last went to sea in 1997 since when she has been used as an accommodation ship at the Alexandria Naval base. She was declared surplus to requirements in 2002.
