The second HMS Whirlwind was a W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy and was built by Hawthorn Leslie and was launched on 30 August 1943. She saw service during World War II and the Cold War.

The W and Z class was a class of sixteen destroyers of the Royal Navy launched in 1943–1944. They were constructed as two flotillas, with names beginning with "W-" and "Z-", respectively, although, like the preceding U and V class, two of the flotilla leaders were named after historical naval figures. They were known as the 9th and 10th Emergency Flotilla, respectively and served as fleet and convoy escorts in World War II. None were lost during World War II but INS Eilat was sunk during the Israel-Egypt conflict in October 1967 by Egyptian missile boats and the El Qaher of the Egyptian Navy was sunk at Berenice, Egypt on 16 May 1970 by Israeli Air Force aircraft during the War of Attrition.