HMIS Bihar (J247)

Career (India)
Name: HMIS Bihar
Ordered: 14 October 1940
Builder: Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers
Laid down: 7 June 1941
Launched: 7 July 1942
Commissioned: 27 February 1944
Decommissioned: 1949
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type: Bangor-class minesweeper
Displacement: 605 tons
Length: 162 ft (49.4 m)
Beam: 28 ft (8.5 m)
Draught: 8.25 ft (2.51 m)
Propulsion: 2 shafts, 9-cylinder diesel, 2,000 bhp (1,500 kW)
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement: 60
Armament:

HMIS Bihar (J199) was a Bangor class minesweeper built in India which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II.[1]

History

HMIS Bihar was ordered in 1940 and built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers in Kolkata, India. She was commissioned into the RIN in 1944.[1] She served in World War II, and was scrapped in 1949.

Operations in World War II

Bihar was a part of the Eastern Fleet, and escorted numerous convoys between Africa, British India and Australia in 1944-45.[2][3]

On 15 July 1944, the British merchant ship Tanda was torpedoed and sunk by German Navy U-boat U-181 in the Arabian Sea at position 13º22'N, 74º09'E, northwest of Mangalore. HMIS Bihar with HMS Monkshood rescued 197 surviving crew of the Tanda.

Notes