HMS ''Lamerton'' 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

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She was sold 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 ''Gomati''. Following the war, early in 1946, she was reduced to Reserve status at Harwich.

Royal Navy

''Lamerton'' was ordered on 3 September 1939 under the 1939 War Emergency Build Programme. She was laid down as Job No. J4142. She was commissioned on 16 August 1941.

Operation Torch

''Lamerton'' was present at the Allied invasion of North Africa, known as

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

, as part of

Force H Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place within the ...

. At 1045 on 6 November 1942, after passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, the screen of Force H was augmented by the arrival of ''Lamerton'', along with , , , , , , , , , and , whilst , , , , , and were detached to join convoy KMSA 1. At 1230 on 6 November, the Spanish fishing vessel ''Jesus Dei Gran'' was sighted to the south-east. Vice Admiral Burrough ordered ''Lamerton'' to board her and to send her under armed guard to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. The crew, according to Burrough, were ''"very friendly and in no way resented this interruption of their peaceful occupation"''. At 2230 on 7 September, - the command ship - and the ships of B Sector, consisting of , , , , , , , and escorted by , ''Acute'', ''Alarm'', ''Albacore'', ''Lamerton'', ''Wheatland'', ''Wilton'', ''Błyskawica'', , , , and Motor Launches ''444'', ''238'' and ''307'', were stopped in position 36°52.5'N., 02°49'E. There was a moderate north-easterly breeze, slight sea, clear sky and good visibility.

Cape Caxine Cape Caxine is a cape located in Algeria. See also *List of lighthouses in Algeria This is a list of lighthouses in Algeria. The list includes those maritime lighthouses that are named landfall lights, or have a range of at least fifteen nautical ...

and all coastal lights were visible.

Indian Navy

Along with and , ''Lamerton'' was leased to India in 1952, as recompense for the Royal Navy not supplying a cruiser which was originally planned. The three ships became the 22nd Destroyer Squadron, with ''Bedale'' (now INS ''Godavari'') as the leader. They would all require refits which were expected to cost approximately £120,000 and take around eight months. The ships were initially loaned to India on seven conditions: # India would be responsible for any work required before taking over the ships, including installing any equipment # Armament and logistic support would be provided free of charge, but equivalent amounts were to be returned at the end of the loan period # The standard of maintenance, and the period between refits, would be the same as when in Royal Navy service # All additions and alterations were to be at India's expense, and subject to the approval of the Admiralty # When the vessels were returned, they should be returned with stores, and in good condition (allowing for wear and tear) # In the event of any loss, compensation would be payable # That the loan would be for three years initially, subject to extension by an agreement: but the vessels would be returned if the UK needed them in an emergency - although the Royal Navy had plenty of frigates, NATO had a shortage of them. The transfer deal was agreed by

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

on 22 October 1951, and the Indian government were informed on the same day. She was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 24 April 1953, with the commissioning ceremony being performed by Shrimati Saraswati Kher, wife of

Shri Kher Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanese, ...

, the

Indian High Commissioner Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

. Unusually, she was still named ''Lamerton'' at this time, rather than ''Gomati'', and her commissioning orders were issued by a British Admiral, Sir

Maurice Mansergh Admiral Sir Maurice James Mansergh KCB CBE (14 October 1896 – 29 September 1966) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. Early life and education Mansergh was born in Ealing, Essex, the second son of civil engi ...

. At the

Spithead Review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

in 1953, despite being in the Royal Navy, it still flew the

White Ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on ...

and carried its original name, along with the two other ships of the Indian 22nd Destroyer Squadron, and the INS ''Delhi'', and , which were flying Indian colours. It was not until 18 June 1953 that the ships took their Indian names at a ceremony in Liverpool, with a 'breaking of coconuts' rather than the breaking of bottles of champagne being carried out by the wife of Captain G S Kapoor. The first commander was

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

Inder Singh, who later rose to the rank of Commodore. The Executive Officer was Lieutenant R N Batra. The lease was extended in August 1956, and she was sold to India in April 1958. She was deployed as a training ship until 1975, when she was struck from the active list, before being sold for scrapping.

References

Publications

* * '' The Hunts: a history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II'', John English, World Ship Society, 1987,

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamerton (L88) Hunt-class destroyers of the Indian Navy 1940 ships Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy