Walker spent 1932 to August 1939 in reserve after about fourteen years of service. Sheltered moorings, hull cleaning, periodic dry-docking, and machinery maintenance extended her useful life with a small maintenance staff. Reservists with relevant civilian skills received naval training and had an assigned ship around which to organize. Replacing the entire destroyer force on a rigid twenty-year timetable would have required a large mid-1930s building effort. Retaining viable V and W ships left shipyards and equipment available for cruisers, carriers, and capital ships alongside new destroyers. Older R and S destroyers were being run down, so reserve maintenance and selective replacement worked together.
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Reserve ships preserved a balanced Royal Navy
Walker's seven years in reserve show how careful maintenance extended hull life and prevented destroyer replacement from crowding out cruisers, carriers, and capital ships.