HMIS ''Lawrence'' (L83) was a
sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
, commissioned in 1919 into the
Royal Indian Marine (RIM).
She served during
World War II in the
Royal Indian Navy (RIN), the successor to the RIM. Her
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 ...
was changed to U83 in 1940. Although originally built as a minesweeper, she was primarily used as a convoy escort during the war. She was scrapped soon after the end of the war.
History
HMIS ''Lawrence'' was ordered under the Emergency War Programme of the
First World War, being launched at
William Beardmore and Company on 30 July 1919 and completed on 27 December 1919.
In the immediate post-war years, ''Lawrence'' was used by the Royal Indian Marine for servicing buoys and lighthouses and as a transport for high officials in the
Persian Gulf.
[Collins 1964, pp. 6–7.]
In 1925 while conducting anti-slavery patrols the ship conducted a bombardment of
Fujairah Fort, destroying three of the forts towers.
[Zahlan, Rosemarie Said (2016-03-22). The origins of the United Arab Emirates : a political and social history of the Trucial States. London. p. 165. ISBN 9781317244653. OCLC 945874284.]
On the outbreak of the Second World War, the ''Lawrence'', whose armament had been increased by the addition of four
3-pounder gun 3-pounder gun, 3-pounder, 3-pdr or QF 3-pdr is an abbreviation typically referring to a gun which fired a projectile weighing approximately 3 pounds. It may refer to :
*The Grasshopper cannon : of the 18th century
*QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss : Hotchkiss ...
s and a second 2-pounder pom-pom,
[Collins 1964, p. 13.] deployed to
Masirah Island off the coast of
Oman where it was used to carry out patrols,
[Collins 1964, p. 33.] taking part in the unsuccessful search for the missing airliner
Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
in March 1940.
[Collins 1964, p. 36.]
Immediately prior to the outbreak of the
Anglo-Iraqi War, ''Lawrence'' helped to cover the landing of the
20th Indian Infantry Brigade
The 20th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II.
History
The brigade was formed in September 1940, by the conversion of the Khojak Brigade and assigned to the 9th Indian Infantry Divis ...
at Basra on 18 April 1941.
[Collins 1964, pp. 71–72.] When Britain and the Soviet Union
invaded Iran in August 1941, ''Lawrence'' took part in the attack on
Abadan
Abadan ( fa, آبادان ''Ābādān'', ) is a city and capital of Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, which is located in the southwest of Iran. It lies on Abadan Island ( long, 3–19 km or 2–12 miles wide). The island is bounded ...
on 25 August 1941, boarding and capturing the Iranian gunboats ''Karkas'' and ''Shahbaaz'' and two Italian merchant ships.
[Collins 1964, pp. 78–82, 88–92.]
In late 1944 ''Lawrence'' was assigned to HMIS ''Himalaya'', the Gunnery school in
Karachi as a Gunnery School Firing Ship,
[Collins 1964, p. 128.] and joined the Bombay training squadron in November 1945.
[Collins 1964, p. 144.]
''Lawrence'' was decommissioned and scrapped in 1947, two years after the end of the war.
Notes
References
*Collins, J.T.E
''The Royal Indian Navy, 1939–1945'. Official History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War. New Delhi: Combined Inter-Services Historical Section (India & Pakistan), 1964.
*Parkes, Oscar. ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1931''. Newton Abbot, Devon, UK:Davis & Charles Reprints, 1931 (1973 reprint). .
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence (L83)
Sloops of the Royal Indian Navy
1919 ships