INS Delhi (1948)

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The INS Delhi was a Leander class cruiser built for the Royal Navy in 1933 as HMS Achilles, and commissioned into the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy (from 1941 the Royal New Zealand Navy) in 1937 as HMNZS Achilles. She was returned to the Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War and was sold to the Indian Navy in 1948 and commissioned as HMIS Delhi. She remained in service until decommissioned for scrap at Bombay on 30 June 1978.

[edit] Joins the Indian Navy

The ship was recommissioned as HMIS Delhi on 5 July 1948 (prior to India becoming a republic, when she became INS Delhi) under the command of Captain H.N.S. Brown of the Royal Navy. She had 17 British officers and petty officers, the rest of the crew being Indian. Commander R.D. Katari, executive officer, was the most senior Indian officer. She conducted her first major goodwill cruise in 1948, to East Africa, the Seychelles, and Mauritius.

In June 1950 Commander A.K. Chatterji (later Chief of Naval Staff) became her first Indian commanding officer; the same month she conveyed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Indonesia on an official visit.

In 1956 she played herself, as Achilles, in the movie Battle of the River Plate.

[edit] Invasion of Goa

On 18 December 1961, during the invasion of Goa she opened fire on two Portuguese vessels, sinking one and forcing the scuttling of the other. She also supported the Indian Army's advance by firing on the citadel and airport control tower.

Delhi missed the Indo-Pakistan war of September 1965 because she was in dry dock at the time.

[edit] Visit to New Zealand

In 1969 she visited New Zealand under Vice Admiral Barbosa. The visit was the occasion of many reunions of Achilles veterans who were plied with large quantities of rum and beer, and taken on a quick trip by the ship.

[edit] Decommissioned

Delhi was decommissioned and scrapped at Bombay in 1978. Subsequently one of her gun turrets was sent to New Zealand, where it is preserved. A second turret, or gun, is reported to be preserved at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. The precise fate of the third turret is unknown, but a persistent rumour holds that it was officially recorded as "eaten by white ants".[1]