HMIS ''Deccan'' (J129) was a s built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, but transferred to the

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British Raj, British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the British Indian Army, Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the ...

(RIN) during the Second World War.

Design and description

The ''Bangor'' class was designed as a small minesweeper that could be easily built in large numbers by civilian shipyards; as

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s were difficult to manufacture, the ships were designed to accept a wide variety of engines. ''Deccan'' displaced at

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

load and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

. The ship had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of .Lenton, pp. 253–54 The ship's complement consisted of 60 officers and ratings.Chesneau, p. 64 She was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines (VTE), each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two

Admiralty three-drum boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power Steamship, ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although ...

s. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The ship carried a maximum of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

that gave her a range of at .Lenton, p. 254 The VTE-powered ''Bangor''s were armed with a QF 12-pounder (7.62 cm)

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

and a single QF 2-pounder (4 cm) AA gun or a quadruple mount for the

Vickers .50 machine gun The Vickers .5 inch machine gun (officially "Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-in") also known as the Vickers .50 was a large-calibre British automatic weapon. The gun was commonly used as a close-in anti-aircraft weapon on Royal Navy and Allied ships, ...

. In some ships the 2-pounder was replaced a single or twin

20 mm Oerlikon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employ ...

AA gun, while most ships were fitted with four additional single Oerlikon mounts over the course of the war. For escort work, their minesweeping gear could be exchanged for around 40

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

Construction and career

HMIS ''Deccan'' was ordered in 1942, and built by

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India's leading defence shipyards, located in Kolkata. It builds and repairs commercial and naval vessels. GRSE also exports the ships that the company builds. Founded ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

for the

. She was commissioned in March 1945, just months before the end of World War II. HMIS ''Deccan'' was a part of the

Eastern Fleet Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

, and escorted a few convoys between

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1945. She was also deployed for mine clearance operations off

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deccan (J129) Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Indian Navy 1944 ships British ships built in India World War II minesweepers of India