The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of the erstwhile British Raj and its successor Dominion of India. Along with the presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India.
From its origins in 1612 as the East India Company's Marine, the Navy underwent various changes, including changes to its name. Over time it was named the Bombay Marine (1686), the Bombay Marine Corps (1829), the Indian Navy (1830), Her Majesty's Indian Navy (1858), the Bombay and Bengal Marine (1863), the Indian Defence Force (1871), Her Majesty's Indian Marine (1877) and the Royal Indian Marine (1892). It was finally named the Royal Indian Navy in 1934. However, it remained a relatively small force until the Second World War, when it was greatly expanded.
After the partition of India into two independent states in 1947, the Navy was split between India and Pakistan. One-third of the assets and personnel were assigned to the Pakistan Navy. Approximately two thirds of the fleet remained with the Union of India, as did all land assets within its territory. This force, still under the name of "Royal Indian Navy", became the navy of the Dominion of India until the country became a republic on 26 January 1950. It was then renamed the Indian Navy.
History
East India Company 1612–1830, the Bombay Marine
The East India Company was established in 1599, and it began to create a fleet of fighting ships in 1612, soon after Captain Thomas Best defeated the Portuguese at the Battle of Swally. This led the company to build a port and to establish a small navy based at Suvali, in Surat, Gujarat, to protect its trade routes. The Company named the force the 'Honourable East India Company's Marine', and the first fighting ships arrived on 5 September 1612.Harbans Singh Bhatia, Military History of British India, 1607-1947 (1977), p. 15
This force protected merchant shipping off the Gulf of Cambay and the rivers Tapti and Narmada. The ships also helped map the coastlines of India, Persia and Arabia.Charles Rathbone Low, History of the Indian Navy: (1613-1863) (R. Bentley & Son, 1877) During the 17th century, the small naval fleet consisted of a few English warships and a large number of locally built gunboats of two types, ghurabs and gallivats, crewed by local fishermen. The larger ghurabs were heavy, shallow-draft gunboats of 300 tons (bm) each, and carried six 9 to 12-pounder guns; the smaller gallivats were about 70 tons (bm) each and carried six 2 to 4-pounder guns.Rear Admiral Satyindra Singh AVSM, Under Two Ensigns: The Indian Navy 1945-1950 (1986), p. 36 In 1635, the East India Company established a shipyard at Surat, where they built four pinnaces and a few larger vessels to supplement their fleet.Singh 1986, p. 40
In 1686, with most of the English commerce moving to Bombay, the force was renamed the "Bombay Marine". This force fought the Marathas and the Sidis and took part in the Anglo-Burmese Wars. While it recruited Indian sailors extensively, it had no Indian commissioned officers.
Commodore William James was appointed to command the Marine in 1751. On 2 April 1755, commanding the Bombay Marine's ship Protector, he attacked the Maratha fortress of Tulaji Angre at Severndroog between Bombay and Goa. James had instructions only to blockade the stronghold, but he was able to get close enough to bombard and destroy it.
In February 1756, the Marine supported the capture of Gheriah (Vijaydurg Fort) by Robert Clive and Admiral Watson, and was active in skirmishes against the French, helping to consolidate the British position in India. In 1809, a fleet of 12 ships of the Marine bombarded the city of Ras al-Khaimah, a pirate stronghold, in an unsuccessful attempt to quell Arab piracy. A subsequent mission in 1819 with 11 vessels proved successful in blockading the city for four days, after which the tribal chieftain surrendered.
In 1829, the "Bombay Marine" received the additional name of "Corps", and also received its first steam-powered vessel, . Steaming from Bombay on 20 March 1830, Hugh Lindsay reached Suez after 21 days under steam (plus coaling stops at Aden, Mocha, and Jeddah), at an average speed of six knots.Rear Admiral Satyindra Singh AVSM, Under Two Ensigns: The Indian Navy 1945-1950 (1986), p. 40-41 Between 1830 and 1854 the Indian Navy was responsible for maintaining mail service on the Bombay and Suez leg of the "overland route" (England–Alexandria, Alexandria–Suez overland, and Suez–Bombay).
1830–1858
In 1830, the Bombay Marine was renamed the "Indian Navy". The British capture of Aden in the Aden Expedition increased its commitments, leading to the creation of the "Indus Flotilla". The Navy then took part in the First Opium War of 1840. By 1845, the Indian Navy had completed the conversion from sail to steam.
In 1848, an Indian Navy contingent of 100 ratings and seven officers took part in the Siege of Multan during the Anglo-Sikh War.Rear Admiral Satyindra Singh AVSM, Under Two Ensigns: The Indian Navy 1945-1950 (1986), p. 42 In 1852, at the outset of the Second Anglo-Burmese War, ships of Her Majesty's Indian Navy joined a Royal Navy force under the command of Admiral Charles Austen to assist General Godwin in the capture of Martaban and Rangoon.Edmund Burke, ed., The Annual Register of the Year 1852 (Longmans, Green, 1853), p. 283 Nabarun Rudra Paul, the great captain of India leased that time.
Direct British rule in India After the end of Company rule in India following the Indian rebellion of 1857, the force came under the command of the British government of India and was formally named "Her Majesty's Indian Navy".
1858–1934 Her Majesty's Indian Navy resumed the name "Bombay Marine" from 1863 to 1877, when it was renamed "Her Majesty's Indian Marine" (HMIM). The Marine then had two divisions; an Eastern Division at Calcutta and a Western Division at Bombay.
As the HMIM wasn't covered by Naval Discipline Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 109) or the Merchant Shipping Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104), the Governor General in Council was empowered to by the (47 & 48 Vict. c. 3) to help formulate maritime and naval laws. These laws were first formulated and codified in the "Indian Marine Act, 1887" and followed by an amendment act to the same in the next year. The former adopted the general lines of the Naval Discipline and Indian Navy Acts as far as possible, whilst the latter merely supplied deficiencies in regard to grading and rating.
In recognition of its fighting services, HMIM was given the title of "Royal Indian Marine" in 1892. By this time it consisted of over fifty vessels.Genesis at indiannavy.nic.in In 1905, the service was described as having "Government vessels engaged in troop-ship, surveying, police or revenue duties in the East Indies".Archibald Greig Cowie, The sea services of the empire as fields for employment (1905), p. 246
When mines were detected off the coasts of Bombay and Aden, during the First World War, the Royal Indian Marine went into action with a fleet of minesweepers, patrol vessels and troop carriers. Besides patrolling, the Marine ferried troops and carried war stores from India to Mesopotamia (now Iraq), Egypt and East Africa.
The first Indian to be granted a commission was Engineer Sub-Lieutenant D.N. Mukherji, who joined the Royal Indian Marine as an officer on 6 January 1923.D. J. E. Collins, The Royal Indian Navy, 1939-45, vol. 1 (Bombay, 1964), p. 8
World War II In 1934, the Royal Indian Marine changed its name, with the enactment of the Indian Navy (Discipline) Act 1934. The Royal Indian Navy was formally inaugurated on 2 October 1934, at Bombay.Bhatia (1977), p. 28 Its ships carried the prefix HMIS, for His Majesty's Indian Ship.D. J. E. Collins, The Royal Indian Navy, 1939-45, vol. 1 (Bombay, 1964)
At the start of the Second World War, the Royal Indian Navy was small, with only eight warships. The onset of the war led to an expansion in vessels and personnel described by one writer as "phenomenal". By 1943 the strength of the RIN had reached twenty thousand. During the war, the Women's Royal Indian Naval Service was established, for the first time giving women a role in the navy, although they did not serve on board its ships.
During the course of the war, six anti-aircraft sloops and several fleet minesweepers were built in the United Kingdom for the RIN. After commissioning, many of these ships joined various escort groups operating in the northern approaches to the British Isles. and , each armed with six high-angle 4-inch guns, were present during the Clydebank Blitz of 1941 and assisted the defence of this area by providing anti-aircraft cover. For the next six months these two ships joined the Clyde Escort Force, operating in the Atlantic and later the Irish Sea Escort Force where they acted as the senior ships of the groups. While engaged on these duties, numerous attacks against U-boats were carried out and attacks by hostile aircraft repelled. At the time of action in which the was involved, the Sutlej left Scapa Flow, with all despatch as the senior member of a group, to take over a convoy from the destroyers which were finally engaged in the sinking of the Bismarck.The Royal Indian Navy, 1939–1945 - Collins, p248
Later , , , , also anti-aircraft sloops, completed similar periods in the U.K. waters escorting convoys in the Atlantic and dealing with attacks from hostile U-boats, aircraft and glider bombs. These six ships and the minesweepers all eventually proceeded to India carrying out various duties in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Cape stations en route. The fleet minesweepers were , , , , , , , , .
Four Australian-built Bathurst-class sloops served with the RIN from 1943 onwards. These included , which was a part of the Eastern Fleet during World War II, and escorted numerous convoys between 1942 and 1945.
The sloops and played a role in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily by providing air defence and anti-submarine screening to the invasion fleet.Inmed The Royal Indian Navy, 1939–1945 - Collins, p252
Furthermore, the Royal Indian Navy participated in convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean and was heavily involved in combat operations as part of the Burma Campaign, carrying out raids, shore bombardment, naval invasion support and other activities.The Royal Indian Navy, 1939–1945 - Collins, p255 - p316
Royal Indian Naval combat losses
The sloop HMIS Pathan was sunk in June 1940 by the Italian Navy Submarine Galvani during the East African CampaignRohwer & Hummelchen, p.23
In the days immediately following the Attack on Pearl Harbor, was patrolling the Laccadive Islands in search of Japanese ships and submarines. At midnight on 9 December 1941, HMS Glasgow sank the RIN patrol vessel with two lighters in tow en route to Karachi, with 6-inch shells at . Prabhavati was alongside the lighters and was mistaken for a surfaced Japanese submarine.The Royal Indian Navy, 1939–1945 - Collins, p96Neil MacCart, Town Class Cruisers, Maritime Books, 2012, , p. 153
was sunk by a Japanese aircraft during the Burma Campaign on 6 April 1942.
Royal Indian Naval successes
was ordered in 1939, and built by William Denny and Brothers. She was commissioned in 1941, and with World War II underway, was immediately deployed as a convoy escort. Jumna served as an anti-aircraft escort during the Java Sea campaign in early 1942, and was involved in intensive anti-aircraft action against attacking Japanese twin-engined level bombers and dive bombers, claiming five aircraft downed from 24 to 28 February 1942.
In June 1942, was involved in the defence of Sydney Harbour during the attack on Sydney Harbour.