HMS Rotherham

HMS Rotherham was an R-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy during the Second World War, named after Captain Edward Rotheram, who commanded HMS Royal Sovereign during at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Rotherham was completed in 1942 and equipped as a flotilla leader, having slightly reduced armament to allow for the increased complement and working space required. Decommissioned in 1945, the ship was sold to India in 1948, serving as INS Rajput (D141) until 1976, when she was scrapped.[2]

For other ships with the same name, see INS Rajput.

Rotherham on completion, September 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Rotherham
Namesake: Captain Edward Rotheram
Ordered: 2 April 1940
Builder: John Brown & Company, Clydebank
Laid down: 10 April 1941
Launched: 21 March 1942
Completed: 27 August 1942
Commissioned: August 1942
Decommissioned: 1945
Identification: pennant number H09
Honours and
awards:
  • Battle honours:
  • Sabang 1944
  • Burma
Fate: Sold to India, 1948; Scrapped, 1976
Badge: On a Field Blue, a stag trippant Gold between a wreath of oak also Gold
India
Name: INS Rajput
Namesake: Rajput
Acquired: 1948
Commissioned: 27 July 1949
Decommissioned: 1976
Identification: D141
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: R-class destroyer
Displacement:
  • 1,705 long tons (1,732 t) light
  • 2,425 long tons (2,464 t) full load
Length: 358 ft 3 in (109.2 m) o/a
Beam: 35 ft 9 in (10.9 m)
Draught: 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers
  • Parsons geared steam turbines
  • 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
  • 2 shafts
Speed: 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range: 4,675 nmi (8,658 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 237
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Type 290 air warning radar
  • Type 285 ranging & bearing radar
  • Huff-Duff (High-frequency Direction-finder)
Armament:
  • 4 × QF 4.7 inch (120 mm) Mk.IX guns, single mounts CP Mk.XVIII
  • 4 × QF 2 pdr Mk.VIII (40 mm L/39), quad mount Mk.VII
  • 6 × QF 20 mm Oerlikon, single mount P Mk.III
  • 8 (2×4) torpedo tubes for 21 in Mk.IX torpedoes
  • 4 × throwers & 2 × racks, 70 depth charges

Royal Navy service

World War II

Rotherham was commissioned for service, after completing her sea trials, in August 1942. After a period of training at Scapa Flow, she was assigned to serve in the South Atlantic, operating as convoy escort between Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Cape Town and Durban, South Africa for the rest of the year.[2]

From February 1944 Rotherham was deployed in the Indian Ocean, and in April joined the Eastern Fleet to take part in series of offensive operations against the Japanese in Sumatra and Java, and the Indian nationalist Azad Hind in the Andaman Islands, acting as an escort to aircraft carriers and battleships. In October 1944 Rotherham sailed to Simon's Town to refit.[2]

In early 1945 Rotherham was deployed intercepting Japanese ships supplying stores and carrying personnel to garrisons in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as well as providing support for military operations in Burma. In February, along with her sister ships Rapid, Rocket, and Roebuck, she carried out a bombardment of Great Coco Island, in which more than a thousand 4.7 inch shells were fired by the four ships. Further anti-shipping and shore bombardments followed, and in April she provided cover for Allied landings near Rangoon during "Operation Dracula". Escort duties continued until the Japanese surrender on 15 August.[2]

Post-war operations

Rotherham was then deployed in "Operation Zipper", the British reoccupation of Penang, and in early September, as part of "Operation Tiderace", escorted a fleet led by the cruiser Sussex to Singapore to take the surrender of the 77,000 Japanese there. Rotherham's commander personally accepted the surrender of 34,000 personnel of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Singapore Naval Dockyard at Sembawang, and in commemoration the main entrance was renamed the "Rotherham Gate". The ship remained at Singapore until 27 September 1945, when she sailed to Trincomalee, leaving there on 2 October for Portsmouth, where she was decommissioned and put into the Reserve.[2]

Indian Navy service

Rotherham was sold to India in 1948, and formally transferred to the Indian Navy on 27 July 1949 as INS Rajput (D141).[3] She saw active service during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. India claims that the Rajput was responsible for sinking the Pakistan Navy submarine Ghazi, though Pakistan contests this. According to Pakistan, the submarine was sunk by the accidental detonation of one or more of the laid or about-to-be-laid mines the ship was carrying.[2]

In 2010, Lieutenant-General J.F.R Jacob of Eastern Command mentioned in an article that "Ghazi was destroyed in an accident in which Indian Navy was not involved. There were many opinions from authors of the Indian side who also shared this skepticism of the Indian Navy’s official stance."[4][4]

In 2010, it was reported that Indian navy had destroyed all records of sinking Ghazi submarine. Vice admiral G M Hiranandani who was tasked with writing the official history of the navy. He stated that he was unable to obtain any old files regarding PNS Ghazi sinking. Those old files were destroyed. One of the retired navy officer who saw the action in 1971 said that the destruction of the Ghazi papers and those of army in Kolkata depicts the many instances when Indian war history has been delibarelty falsified. He further stated that 'We have enough heroes. In fog of war, many myth and false hero may have been created and many left unsung'.[5]

Rajput remained an active fleet unit until 1976 when she was placed on the Disposal List and then scrapped.[2]

References
  1. Lenton, H.T. British and Empire Warships of the Second World War. Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-277-7.
  2. Lt.Cdr. Geoffrey B. Mason RN (2003). "HMS Rotherham, destroyer". Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War II. naval-history.net. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  3. Critchley, Mike, "British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers", Maritime Books: Liskeard, UK, 1982. ISBN 0-9506323-9-2, page 50
  4. Mulki, Muhammad Abid (27 May 2012). "Warriors of the waves". The Express Tribune. The Express Tribune, 2012 Mulki. The Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  5. "Now no record of navy sinking Pakistani submarine in 1971". Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2010.

Bibliography
  • Chesneau, Roger, ed. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • English, John (2001). Obdurate to Daring: British Fleet Destroyers 1941–45. Windsor, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN 978-0-9560769-0-8.
  • Friedman, Norman (2006). British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-86176-137-6.
  • Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
  • Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1978). War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes. London: Bivouac Books. ISBN 0-85680-010-4.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
  • Whitley, M. J. (1988). Destroyers of World War 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-326-1.
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