Winchelsea was launched on 15 December 1917 and was the 7th Royal Navy ship to carry this name, introduced in 1694 and named after the 6th Earl of Winchilsea (1647–1730)[1]
In March 1945 she was decommissioned and sold for scrap.[2]
26 May–4 June 1940 — the Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo.
27 July 1940 — 84 survivors from the British freighters Sambre and Thiara were picked up. They had been torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-34 (1936), south-south-west of Rockall.
13-17 September 1940 — Escorts Convoy OB 213. After Winchelsea leaves, two ships in the convoy, including the child evacuation ship SS City of Benares, were attacked by a submarine. 260 people, including 258 passengers and crew from the Benares, are killed.
17 September 1940 — 25 survivors from the British freighter Crown Arun were picked up after the ship had been torpedoed and then sunk with gunfire by the German submarine U-99, north of Rockall.
2 November 1942 — 24 survivors were picked up after the British freighter Hartington had been torpedoed and sunk by U-521, approximately 450 nautical miles (830 km) east of Belle Isle.[3]
Cocker, Maurice. Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893–1981. Ian Allan. ISBN0-7110-1075-7.
Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-59114-081-8.
Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-85177-245-5.
Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-55750-048-7.
March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892–1953; Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building Plans. London: Seeley Service. OCLC164893555.
Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1979). 'V' and 'W' Class Destroyers. Man o'War. Vol. 2. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN0-85368-233-X.
Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-59114-119-2.