Calpe was ordered in December 1939 from Swan Hunter Wallsend as part of the 1939 emergency program. She was not the first ship of this name as HMS Calpe had been a ship in the Royal Navy from 1800 to 1802. The keel was laid the following year and it was launched and completed in 1941. Following her acceptance on 11 December 1941, the ship set sail for Scapa Flow.^[1] The ship was adopted in February 1942 by Abingdon-on-Thames in Berkshire as part of a National Savings campaign called Warship Week.^[1]

In 1942 she sailed under the Spanish Ensign as she approached St Jean de Luz. To keep up the pretense, all the crew remained below deck. It was not until before the bombardment took place on 4–5 April that the British Ensign replaced the Spanish jack.^[2] On 28 July, Calpe and HMS Cottesmore shelled and sunk the Vorpostenboot V 202 Hermann Bösch in the English Channel off La Hague, Manche, France.^[3]

On 18 and 19 August 1942 Calpe was involved in the Dieppe Raid. Her primary function was to act as the command ship for the raid and was used by Major-General Roberts (OC, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division) and Captain John Hugues-Hallet RN (Naval Commander for the raid). She acted as a hospital ship and sustained casualties, losing nearly a quarter of the crew. Despite this, Calpe managed to take on and care for 278 casualties.^[4]

In October 1942, Calpe was included in the ships that would take part in action in North Africa. She was sent to guard a convoy to her namesake Gibraltar. In November she became part of Operation Torch as she was included in the Central Task Force for allied landings.^[1]

Calpe identified the submarine U-593 in the Mediterranean, and together with USS Wainwright, managed to sink the U-boat on 13 December 1943.^[5] The U-boat had already sunk two sister Hunt-class destroyers, Tynedale and Holcombe that month.^[5] The captain of Wainwright, Commander Strohbehn, noted in his account that "it was a pleasure" to work with the British Warship.^[6]

Calpe was active in the Indian Ocean until 1946. She was sent back to Britain in the November and was put in "reserve". She was laid up in Sheerness and moved to Portsmouth in 1947. During 1952 she was placed on loan with the Royal Danish Navy for nine years becoming HDMS Rolf Krake.^[7] Then Denmark bought her outright.^[1] Rolf Krake remained active until October 1966 when she was scrapped at Ystad in Sweden.^[8]

The Government of Gibraltar issued both a 5p and a 22p stamp to celebrate Calpe.^[9] The name Calpe was reused in 1965 when the Royal Navy Reserve formed its only HQ reserve unit in Gibraltar.^[10]

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.