SimonK54990761 at 02:49, 25 March 2026

2026-03-25T02:49:11Z

New page

{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|INS Rajput}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox ship
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
|image= HMS Rotherham 1942 IWM FL 10240.jpg
|image_caption=''Rotherham'' on completion, September 1942
}}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career
|hide_header=
|country=United Kingdom
|flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|name=HMS ''Rotherham''
|namesake=Captain [[Edward Rotheram]]
|ordered=2 April 1940
|awarded=
|builder=[[John Brown & Company]], [[Clydebank]]
|original_cost=
|yard_number=
|way_number=
|laid_down=10 April 1941
|launched=21 March 1942
|sponsor=
|christened=
|completed=27 August 1942
|acquired=
|commissioned=August 1942
|decommissioned=1945
|in_service=
|out_of_service=
|renamed=
|reclassified=
|refit=
|struck=
|reinstated=
|homeport=
|identification=[[Pennant number]]: H09
|motto=
|nickname=
|honours=*'''Battle honours:'''
*Sabang 1944
*Burma
|captured=
|fate=Sold to [[India]], 1948; Scrapped, 1976
|notes=
|badge=On a Field Blue, a [[stag]] [[trippant]] Gold between a wreath of oak also Gold
}}

|section3={{Infobox ship/career
|hide_header=title
|country=India
|flag= {{shipboxflag|India|naval-1950}}
|name=INS ''Rajput''
|namesake=[[Rajput]]
|acquired=1948
|commissioned=27 July 1949
|decommissioned= 1976
|in_service=
|out_of_service=
|renamed=
|reclassified=
|refit=
|struck=
|reinstated=
|homeport=
|identification=D141
|motto=
|nickname=
|honours=
|captured=
|fate= Scrapped
|notes=
|badge=
}}

|section4={{Infobox ship/characteristics
|hide_header=
|header_caption=<ref name="lenton">{{cite book|last=Lenton|first=H.T|title=British and Empire Warships of the Second World War|publisher=Greenhill Books|isbn=1-85367-277-7}}</ref>
|class= [[Q and R-class destroyer|R-class]] [[destroyer]]
|displacement=*{{convert|1705|LT|t|0|lk=in|abbr=on}} light
*{{convert|2425|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full load
|length= {{convert|358|ft|3|in|m|1|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|o/a]]
|beam= {{convert|35|ft|9|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|height=
|draught= {{convert|9|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|propulsion=*2 × Admiralty 3-drum [[water-tube boiler]]s
*[[Parsons Marine Steam Turbines|Parsons]] geared steam turbines
*{{convert|40000|shp|abbr=on}}
*2 shafts
|speed={{convert|36|kn}}
|range={{convert|4675|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|20|kn|abbr=on}}
|complement=237
|sensors=*[[List of World War II British naval radar#Type 290|Type 290]] air warning radar
*[[Type 285 radar|Type 285]] ranging & bearing radar
*[[High frequency direction finding|Huff-Duff]] (High-frequency Direction-finder)
|EW=
|armament=*4 × [[4.7 inch QF Mark IX|QF 4.7 inch (120 mm) Mk.IX guns]], single mounts CP Mk.XVIII
*4 × [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2 pdr Mk.VIII]] (40 mm L/39), quad mount Mk.VII
*6 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|QF 20 mm Oerlikon]], single mount P Mk.III
*8 (2×4) [[torpedo tube]]s for [[British 21 inch torpedo#21 inch Mark XI|21 in Mk.IX torpedoes]]
*4 × throwers & 2 × racks, 70 [[depth charge]]s
|armour=
|notes=
}}
}}
'''HMS ''Rotherham''''' was an [[Q and R-class destroyer|R-class]] [[destroyer]] of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Navy during the Second World War]], named after Captain [[Edward Rotheram]], who commanded {{HMS|Royal Sovereign|1786|6}} during at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] in 1805. ''Rotherham'' was completed in 1942 and equipped as a [[flotilla leader]], having slightly reduced armament to allow for the increased complement and working space required. Decommissioned in 1945, the ship was sold to [[India]] in 1948, serving as '''INS ''Rajput'' (D141)''' until 1976, when she was scrapped.<ref name="naval-history.net">{{cite web| url=http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-52R-Rotherham.htm| title=HMS ''Rotherham'', destroyer| author=Lt.Cdr. Geoffrey B. Mason RN | year=2003| work=Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War II| location=naval-history.net
| access-date=14 April 2010}}</ref>

==Royal Navy service==

===World War II===
''Rotherham'' was commissioned for service, after completing her [[sea trial]]s, in August 1942. After a period of training at [[Scapa Flow]], she was assigned to serve in the [[Atlantic|South Atlantic]], operating as convoy escort between [[Freetown]], [[Sierra Leone]], and [[Cape Town]] and [[Durban]], [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]] for the rest of the year.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

From February 1944 ''Rotherham'' was deployed in the [[Indian Ocean]], and in April joined the [[Eastern Fleet]] to take part in series of offensive operations against the Japanese in [[Sumatra]] and [[Java]], and the Indian nationalist [[Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind|Azad Hind]] in the [[Andaman Islands]], acting as an escort to aircraft carriers and battleships. In October 1944 ''Rotherham'' sailed to [[Simon's Town]] to refit.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

In early 1945 ''Rotherham'' was deployed intercepting Japanese ships supplying stores and carrying personnel to the [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]], as well as providing support for [[Burma Campaign 1944-1945|military operations in Burma]]. In February, along with her [[sister ship]]s {{HMS|Rapid|H32|2}}, {{HMS|Rocket|H92|2}}, and {{HMS|Roebuck|H95|2}}, she carried out a bombardment of [[Coco Islands|Great Coco Island]], in which more than a thousand 4.7 inch shells were fired by the four ships. Further anti-shipping and shore bombardments followed, and in April she provided cover for Allied landings near [[Rangoon]] during "[[Operation Dracula]]". Escort duties continued until the [[Victory over Japan Day|Japanese surrender]] on 15 August.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

===Post-war operations===
''Rotherham'' was then deployed in "[[Operation Zipper]]", the British liberation of [[Penang]], and in early September, as part of "[[Operation Tiderace]]", escorted a fleet led by the cruiser {{HMS|Sussex|96|2}} to [[Singapore]] to take the surrender of the 77,000 Japanese there. ''Rotherham''{{'}}s commander personally accepted the surrender of 34,000 personnel of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] at the Singapore Naval Dockyard at [[Sembawang]], and in commemoration the main entrance was renamed the "Rotherham Gate". The ship remained at Singapore until 27 September 1945, when she sailed to [[Trincomalee]], leaving there on 2 October for [[Portsmouth]], where she was decommissioned and put into the [[Reserve fleet|Reserve]].<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

==Indian Navy service==
''Rotherham'' was sold to India in 1948, and formally transferred to the [[Indian Navy]] on 27 July 1949 as '''INS ''Rajput'' (D141)'''<ref>Critchley, Mike, "British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers", Maritime Books: Liskeard, UK, 1982. {{ISBN|0-9506323-9-2}}, page 50</ref> She saw active service during the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]]. India maintains that the INS ''Rajput'' was responsible for sinking the [[Pakistan Navy]] submarine {{Ship|PNS|Ghazi||2}}, though Pakistan contests this, contending that the submarine was sunk by the accidental detonation of one or more of the laid or about-to-be-laid mines the ship was carrying which seems to be supported as there was communication between ghazi and pak NHQ to support their claim regarding what exactly happened.<ref name="naval-history.net"/> PNS ghazi sailed over 4000 km in the sea and nothing happened, it suffered the final damage in the area where INS Rajput deployed the depth charges which does not supports the Indian description of the event.

''Rajput'' remained an active fleet unit until 1976 when she was placed on the Disposal List and then scrapped.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1980|isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
* {{Colledge: Ships RN|year=2006}}
* {{cite book|last=English|first=John|title=Obdurate to Daring: British Fleet Destroyers 1941–45|publisher=World Ship Society|location=Windsor, UK|year=2001|isbn=978-0-9560769-0-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|date=2006|isbn=1-86176-137-6|author-link=Norman Friedman}}
* {{cite book|last=Lenton|first=H. T.|author-link=Henry Trevor Lenton|title=British & Empire Warships of the Second World War|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1998|isbn=1-55750-048-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Raven|first=Alan|last2=Roberts|first2=John |title=War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes|publisher=Bivouac Books|location=London|year=1978|isbn=0-85680-010-4|name-list-style=amp}}
* {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2|author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}
* {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War 2|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=1988|isbn=0-87021-326-1|location=Annapolis, Maryland|author-link=Michael J. Whitley}}

{{Q and R class destroyer}}
{{Destroyers_of_the_Indian_Navy}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotherham (H09)}}
[[Category:Q and R-class destroyers of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:1942 ships]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:R-class destroyers of the Indian Navy]]

HMS Rotherham - Revision history

SimonK54990761 at 02:49, 25 March 2026