The Bangor class was designed as a small minesweeper that could be easily built in large numbers by civilian shipyards; as steam turbines were difficult to manufacture, the ships were designed to accept a wide variety of engines. Rajputana displaced 673LT at standard load and 860LT at deep load. The ship had an overall length of 189feet, a beam of 28feet and a draught of 10feet.[1] The ship's complement consisted of 60 officers and ratings.[2]
She was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines (VTE), each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Admiralty three-drum boilers. The engines produced a total of 2400shp and gave a maximum speed of 16kn. The ship carried a maximum of 160LT of fuel oil that gave her a range of 2800nmi at .[3]
The VTE-powered Bangors were armed with a 12-pounder 3inches anti-aircraft gun and a single QF 2-pounder (4 cm) AA gun or a quadruple mount for the Vickers .50 machine gun. In some ships the 2-pounder was replaced a single or twin 20 mm Oerlikon AA gun, while most ships were fitted with four additional single Oerlikon mounts over the course of the war.[3] For escort work, their minesweeping gear could be exchanged for around 40 depth charges.[2]
HMIS Rajputana was ordered from Lobnitz & Co. originally for the Royal Navy as HMS Lyme Regis in 1940. However, before she was launched, she was transferred to the Royal Indian Navy and eventually commissioned as Rajputana.[4] She was a part of the Eastern Fleet, and escorted numerous convoys between Africa, British India and Australia in 1943-45.[5] [6] She took part in Operation Dracula, the invasion of Rangoon, in May 1945,[7] and in September 1945, carried out minesweeping operations off Singapore prior to the formal surrender of Japanese forces in South East Asia.[8]
In 1947, the Partition of India resulted in the Royal Indian Navy being split between India and Pakistan. Of eight Bangor-class minesweepers in the pre-partition navy, four were transferred to Pakistan, with Rajputana one of the ships that remained in the Royal Indian Navy, which was renamed the Indian Navy in 1950.[9]