INS ''Brahmaputra'' (F31) was a of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

. She was built by the Scottish shipbuilder

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its heig ...

and completed in March 1958. ''Brahmaputra'' served during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. She was scrapped in 1986.

Construction and design

On 28 June 1951, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

ordered the fifth anti-aircraft frigate of the 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 ...

, to be called HMS ''Panther''. In 1954 the Indian Navy ordered three ''Leopard''-class frigates from the United Kingdom, with ''Panther'', yet to be

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

, transferred to the Indian order as INS ''Bramaputra''. ''Brahmaputra'' was laid down at John Brown's

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

shipyard on 20 October 1955 and was launched on 15 March 1957. She was completed on 31 March 1958. She carried

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

F31. ''Brahmaputra'' was

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, with 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 . The ship displaced normal and deep load. She was powered by eight Admiralty Standard Range 1 (ASR1)

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s, with a total power of , driving two propeller shafts giving a speed of . The ship's main gun armament consisted of two twin 4.5 inch (113 mm) Mark 6 dual-purpose gun turrets, mounted one forward and one aft, with a twin 40mm Bofors mount providing close-in anti-aircraft defence. A single

Squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

anti submarine mortar was fitted.

Service

1965 War

On 17 September 1965, during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Pakistani submarine made a torpedo attack against a target off

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

that was believed to be ''INS Brahmaputra''. ''Ghazi'' s ship's log recorded three explosions when her torpedoes were due to strike their target, and ''Ghazi'' was credited with sinking the Indian frigate. ''Brahmaputra'' was however unharmed and was unaware of any attack.

1971 war

''Brahmaputra'' took part in amphibious landings at

Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; ; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and Cox's Bazar District, district headquarters in south-eastern Bangladesh. Cox's Bazar Beach, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangladesh, is the longest uninterrupte ...

on 14/15 December 1971, landing divers in advance of the landing and providing gunfire support to the landings.

Training ship

In 1978 ''Bramaputra'' was converted to a training ship, with a deckhouse housing classrooms replacing the aft 4.5 in turret. She was stricken on 30 June 1986 and scrapped that year.

References

Other sources

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brahmaputra (1957) 1957 ships Leopard-class frigates Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 Ships of the Indo-Pakistani wars