After the war she was placed in reserve until August 1957 and eventually sold to the Turkish Navy, who renamed her TCG Kılıç Ali Paşa.

Maidenhead Borough Council in Berkshire officially adopted HMS Matchless after holding a Warship Week in March 1942 that raised £550,296.

[1] Associated Motor Cycles in southeast London, which made Matchless motorcycles, unofficially adopted the ship in 1943.

Matchless undertook sea trials in the Firth of Clyde and then joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow for crew training in gunnery and torpedo attacks.

[1] On 13 May 1942 she was one of four destroyers that sailed from Murmansk escorting the light cruiser Trinidad, which had been damaged during a previous convoy and partially repaired for her homeward voyage.

[1] In June 1942 Matchless took part in Operation Harpoon:[1] a heavily armed convoy to relieve the besieged island of Malta.

On Christmas Day came a message that the 10th Cruiser Squadron consisting of Belfast, Norfolk & Sheffield, under Vice Admiral Robert Burnett had been in action against Scharnhorst.

Burnett was aware that a heavier Royal Navy force commanded by Admiral Bruce Fraser aboard the battleship Duke of York was steaming from the west to intercept her.

About 5.15pm the black of the winter Arctic night was lit up as bright as day by starshells, & the battle began in earnest.

Finally the destroyer detachment from Convoy JW 55A, including Matchless, closed in and sank Scharnhorst with a further 19 torpedoes going under around 7.15pm.