HMIS Bengal (J243)

HMIS Bengal (J243)

Career (India)
Namesake:	Bengal
Ordered:	24 September 1940
Builder:	Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company
Laid down:	3 December 1941
Launched:	28 May 1942
Commissioned:	8 August 1942
Decommissioned:	1960
General characteristics
Class and type:	Bathurst class corvette
Displacement:	650 tons (standard), 1,025 tons (full war load)
Length:	186 ft (57 m)
Beam:	31 ft (9.4 m)
Draught:	8.5 ft (2.6 m)
Propulsion:	triple expansion engine, 2 shafts, 2,000 horsepower
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) at 1,750 hp
Complement:	85
Armament:	1 x 4-inch gun 3 x Oerlikons Machine guns Depth charges chutes and throwers

HMIS Bengal (J243) was a Bathurst class minesweeper of the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) where she served during World War II.

History

HMIS Bengal was ordered from Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company, Australia for the Royal Indian Navy in 1940. She was commissioned into the RIN in 1942.

Operations in World War II

HMIS Bengal was a part of the Eastern Fleet during World War II, and escorted numerous convoys between 1942-45.

On 11 November 1942, Bengal was escorting the Dutch tanker Ondina to the southwest of Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. Two Japanese Raiders armed with 6-in guns attacked the Ondina. Bengal fired her 12 pounders and hit the Hokoku Maru which shortly blew up and sank. The other raider escaped. Both the Bengal and the Ondina were damaged in the action, but reached port safely.

Notes

Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMIS_Bengal_(J243)