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

. 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 the ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its ...

and completed in March 1958. ''Brahmaputra'' served during the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

and the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...

. She was scrapped in 1986.

Construction and design

On 28 June 1951, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

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

, 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 o ...

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

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) 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, Mil ...

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 __NOTOC__ 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, an ...

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 stern ...

, 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 *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

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 Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

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 True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

anti submarine mortar was fitted.

Service

1965 War

On 17 September 1965, during the

, the Pakistani submarine made a torpedo attack against a target off

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

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 (; bn, কক্সবাজার, Kôksbajar; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and district headquarters in Southeastern Bangladesh. It is located south of the city of Chittagong. Cox's Bazar is also known by the na ...

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