The ship ferried Allied prisoners of war back to Australia before departing Sydney on 8 November and arrived at Plymouth on 16 December . The navy originally intended to reduce her to Category B reserve , but decided to assign '' Wrangler '' to the Naval Training Command on 18 January 1946 and she became the chemical warfare training ship based at Devonport Royal Dockyard . From September 1946 until 1950 the ship was with the Rosyth Local Flotilla as a boys ' training ship and had her 40 mm guns removed during her December 1946 – January 1947 refit . Two years later '' Wrangler '' was in a collision that damaged her Carley floats and main deck plating . In 1950 – 51 she was assigned to the 4th Training Flotilla . The ship was allocated to the Type 15 programme on 4 January 1950 and sailed to Devonport in February 1951 to prepare for the reconstruction . From June 1951 to 10 March 1953 she was rebuilt by Harland & Wolff at Belfast , Northern Ireland , with the new pennant number F157 . On recommissioning in 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II . Between 1953 and 1955 she served as part of the 5th Frigate Squadron in the Mediterranean . In 1954 '' Wrangler '' was involved in the search for wreckage of the BOAC de Havilland Comet airliner '' G-ALYP '' , that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Elba . On 4 February 1955 , she ran aground at Villefranche sur Mer , France ; she was refloated on 6 February 1955 by French Navy and Italian Navy tugs
crashed in the Mediterranean Sea
BOAC Flight 781
HMS Wrangler (R48)