She served as a training ship after the war until she was converted into a Type 15 frigate in the early 1950s and subsequently sold to the South African Navy later that decade.

The ship was renamed Vrystaat in South African service and made many overseas port visits before corrosion problems caused her to be reduced to reserve in 1963.

To increase the usable volume of the hull and to improve crew comfort, the forecastle deck was extended almost all the way to the stern and a new superstructure was built above it, made of aluminium to reduce topweight.

[1] She was assigned to the 27th Destroyer Flotilla, together with all of her sister ships, upon completion[6] and Wrangler was working up at Scapa Flow with the Home Fleet from 21 July to 16 August.

[7] During Operation Robson, an aerial attack on the oil refinery complex at Pangkalan Brandan, Sumatra, in mid-December, Wrangler escorted the main body of the fleet.

[9] By 17 July, the ship was en route, together with her sister Wakeful to reinforce the British Pacific Fleet operating off the coast of Japan.

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.

[16] In 1956 Wrangler was sold to South Africa for £1,425,000 "as is" and refitted between November and January 1957 in Cardiff by the Mount Stuart Dry Dock Company.

Terry-Lloyd was in command when the ship was formally accepted by the High Commissioner for the Union of South Africa, Dr. J. E. Holloway, at a ceremony in Devonport on 10 January 1957.

Two years later the ship, now under the command of Captain John Fairbairn, was sent to Portugal to participate in the naval review commemorating of the quincentenary of the death of Infante Henry the Navigator.

Vrystaat was towed out to sea by the frigate President Steyn on 14 April 1976 and was sunk as a target by the submarine SAS Maria van Riebeeck, eight nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) southwest of Cape Point.