HMIS ''Konkan'' (J228) was a s built 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 ...

, but transferred to the

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. F ...

(RIN) during the Second World War.

Design and description

The ''Bangor'' class was designed as a small minesweeper that could be easily built in large numbers by civilian shipyards; as steam turbines were difficult to manufacture, the ships were designed to accept a wide variety of engines. ''Konkan'' displaced at

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 ...

load and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...

. The ship had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a beam of and a draught of . The ship's complement consisted of 60 officers and ratings.Chesneau, p. 64 She was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines (VTE), each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Admiralty three-drum boilers. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The ship carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at .Lenton, p. 254 The VTE-powered ''Bangor''s were armed with a 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun and a single QF 2-pounder (4 cm) AA gun or a quadruple mount for the Vickers .50 machine gun. In some ships the 2-pounder was replaced a single or twin

20 mm Oerlikon 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 empl ...

AA gun, while most ships were fitted with four additional single Oerlikon mounts over the course of the war. For escort work, their minesweeping gear could be exchanged for around 40 depth charges.

Construction and career

HMIS ''Konkan'' was ordered from

Lobnitz Lobnitz & Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company located at Renfrew on the River Clyde, west of the Renfrew Ferry crossing and east of the confluence with the River Cart. The Lobnitz family lived at Chapeltoun House in East Ayrshire. Th ...

& Co. originally for the

as HMS ''Tilbury'' in 1940. However, before she was launched, she was transferred to the Royal Indian Navy and eventually commissioned as ''Konkan''. The ship was a part of the

Eastern Fleet Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

, and escorted numerous convoys between

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and Australia in 1943-45. According to the 1971-72 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships, INS KONKAN operated as part of the 31st Minesweeping Squadron and shows a photo of her sporting a '31' on the funnel and pennant number M 228. Two other Bangor class minesweepers were also operated by the Squadron until their retirement in 1960 - INS RAJPUTANA and ROHIKHAND. Three Australian built Bathurst class minesweepers - INS BENGAL (ret. 1967), INS BOMBAY (ret. 1962), and INS MADRAS (ret. 1962) were also part of the 31st Minesweeping Squadron. INS KONKAN was still listed on the Indian Navy list in the spring of 1971 and was disposed of in 1973 Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1947-1995

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Konkan (J228) Bangor-class minesweepers of the Royal Indian Navy 1942 ships Ships built on the River Clyde World War II minesweepers of India Konkan