Sunk by gunfire within Oran Harbour after first ramming both the outer and inner booms during Operation Reservist.

Walney was accompanied by her sister ship HMS Hartland in their attempt to capture the harbour.

On board the Walney when she was sunk were 200 men of the 6th US Armoured Infantry Division and a 35-strong US Naval contingent under the command of Lt.Cdr. George Deane Dickey U.S.N. aboard, and 6 US Marines.

There were only 14 survivors from the crew of the Walney itself, one officer (Lt. Wallace Dempsey Mosely RN) and 13 ratings. The commanding officer of the operation (see also further below) A/Captain Frederick Thornton Peters DSO, DSC, VC, RN also survived. 81 of Walney's crew went down with the ship along with all but a few of the troops carried aboard.

The ships captain Lt.Cdr. Peter Capel Meyrick, RN was blown to bits on the bridge by a shell, which also killed fifteen other officers and ratings gathered there. The only one to survive on the bridge was A/Captain Frederick Thornton Peters DSO, DSC, VC, RN who was the Group Commander of the whole operation, who was in overall charge of both Cutters, the two ML's smoke-layers before breeching the booms, the various boarding parties and the landing of the troops. A/Captain Thornton Peters who although blinded in one eye survived the assault. (He was killed when returning to the UK from the operation in a plane crash). He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in the operation.