HMS ''Chiddingfold'' (L31) was a Type II

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

of the

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. She was leased to the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

in 1952 where she served as INS ''Ganga'' (D94).

Construction and design

''Chiddingfold'' was one of 17 Hunt-class destroyers ordered from various shipbuilders on 4 September 1939. The Hunts were meant to fill the Royal Navy's need for a large number of small destroyer-type vessels capable of both convoy escort and operations with the fleet. The Type II Hunts differed from the earlier ships in having increased

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

in order to improve stability and carry the ships' originally intended armament. ''Chiddingfold'' was

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 o ...

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Greenock on the River Clyde. In its time in Greenock, Scotts built over 1,250 ships. History John Scott fou ...

's shipyard at

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on the

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on 1 March 1940 as Job No. J1115, was launched on 10 March 1941, and was completed on 16 October that year. ''Chiddingfold'' was the first ship of the Royal Navy to have that name, and was named after the after the

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. ''Chiddingfold'' was long

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 stern ...

and

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

. The ship's

was and draught . Displacement was

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 th ...

and under full load. Two Admiralty boilers raising steam at and fed

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single-reduction geared

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that drove two propeller shafts, generating at 380 rpm. This gave a speed of . Fuel capacity was of oil, giving a design range of (although in service use, this dropped to ). The ship's main gun armament was six 4 inch (102 mm) QF Mk XVI dual purpose (anti-ship and anti-aircraft) guns in three twin mounts, with one mount forward and two aft. Additional close-in anti-aircraft armament was provided by a quadruple 2-pounder "pom-pom" mount and two single

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 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 emplo ...

mounted in the bridge wings. Power-operated twin 20 mm Oerlikon mounts replaced the single Oerlikons during the war. Up to 110

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s could be carried. The ship had a complement of 168 officers and men.

History in the Royal Navy

She earned battle honours in World War II for Norway, 1941 and English Channel, 1945. Following the war, she was reduced to Reserve status early in 1946 and laid-up on 25 March 1946. In 1950 she was transferred to the

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at Harwich and remained there until 1952 when she was towed to Liverpool for a refit.

History in the Indian Navy

The lease of ''Chiddingfold'' to India was announced on 17 June 1952. She underwent a refit by Messrs Crichton at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

which was completed in June 1953. She was commissioned as INS ''Ganga'' on 18 June 1953. The lease was extended in August 1956, and she was sold to India in April 1958. Along with two other Hunt-class destroyers in Indian service (''Godavari'' and ''Gomati''), she constituted the 22nd Destroyer Squadron.Blackman, Raymond V B, Jane's Fighting Ships 1963-4, Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd, London, p123 She was deployed as a training ship until 1975, when she was struck from the active list, before being sold for scrapping.

Notes

References

Publications

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiddingfold (L31), HMS Hunt-class destroyers of the Indian Navy 1941 ships Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy