Allied Warships
Check out our new extensive section on all the Allied Warships during WWII in all theatres of the war.Over 21,000 ships
The Indian Navy almost did not exist before WWII. When the war broke out, the British immediately provided ships and built ships to Indian navy which then only consisted of some small surface vessels.
During the war India had 14 escorts all in all, 4 of type Erget 1200 tons built in 1938-40), 2 of type Black Swan 1470 tons built in 1939-1942, 4 ship of the "River" class of 1460 tons built in 1942, 4 Flower class corvettes of 925 tons built in 1940-41, and 9 minesweepers of 650 tons each.
The Indian Navy also had 6 sloops of old types, 2 of them were types "Bridgewater" of 990-1190 tons. The biggest ships were Lawrence and Clive of 1748 tons build during 1915-1919.
The Indian Navy particpated in few operations on sea, patrolling only in the Indian Ocean.
Even though their crews were not experienced, the Indian ships worked well with the British and Australian ships in cooperative operations, and had the good fortune of sinking two enemy submarines, one U-boat and one japanese.
Indian Naval successes
The Indian sloop Godavari (type Egret of 1,200 tons) sank on 12 August, 1944 the German U-boat U-198 near the Seychelles Islands.
The Indian sloop Jumna (type Egret) sank the Japanese submarine Ro 110 (525 tons) on 11 February, 1944 near the Indian coast.
Indian Naval losses
The Indian Navy lost two of its larger vessels. One was sloop Pathan (1345 tons) sunk on June 1940 from Italian the submarine PC 74, and other one Indus (1190 tons) was sunk by Japanese aircraft. None of the corvettes and minesweepers were sunk, most ships lost were a smaller vessels.