Индийский королевский флот: История и эволюция (1612–1950)

Naval warfare branch of British India's military
the navy of the British ruled India (1612–1947) and the navy of the Dominion of India (1947–1950)

The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the 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 Pakistan and India. One third of the assets and personnel were assigned to the Royal 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. In 1686, with most of the English commerce moving to Bombay, the force was renamed the "Bombay Marine". 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).

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. 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.

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". 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. In 1905, the service was described as having "Government vessels engaged in troop ship, surveying, police or revenue duties in the East Indies". 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.

In 1934, the Royal Indian Marine changed its name, with the enactment of the Indian Navy (Discipline) Act of 1934. The Royal Indian Navy was formally inaugurated on 2 October 1934, at Bombay. Its ships carried the prefix HMIS, for His Majesty's Indian Ship. 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. 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 , , , , , , , ,
The sloops HMIS Sutlej and played a role in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily by providing air defence and anti submarine screening to the invasion fleet. 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.

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. On 11 November 1942, Bengal was escorting the Dutch tanker to the southwest of Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. Two Japanese commerce raiders armed with six inch guns attacked Ondina. Bengal fired her single four inch gun and Ondina fired her 102 mm and both scored hits on Hōkoku Maru, which shortly blew up and sank. On 12 February 1944, the was depth charged and sunk east south east off Visakhapatnam, India by the Indian sloop and the Australian corvettes and Ro 110 had attacked convoy JC 36 (Colombo Calcutta) and torpedoed and damaged the British merchant Asphalion (6,274 GRT). On 12 August 1944, the was sunk near the Seychelles, in position 03º35'S, 52º49'E, by depth charges from and the British frigate HMS Findhorn. The mutiny found widespread support and spread all over India, including elements in the Army and the Air Force. A total of seventy eight ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors were involved in this mutiny.

On 1 March 1947, the designation of "Flag Officer Commanding, Royal Indian Navy" was replaced with that of "Commander in Chief, Royal Indian Navy." Following India's independence in 1947 and the ensuing partition, the Royal Indian Navy was divided between the newly independent Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, and the Armed Forces Reconstitution Committee divided the ships and men of the Royal Indian Navy between India and Pakistan. The division of the ships was on the basis of two thirds of the fleet to India, one third to Pakistan. The committee allocated to the Royal Pakistan Navy (RPN) three of the seven active sloops, HMIS Godavari, HMIS Hindustan and HMIS Narbada, four of the ten serviceable minesweepers, two frigates, two naval trawlers, four harbour launches and a number of Harbour Defence Motor Launches. 358 personnel, and 180 officers, most of whom were Muslims or Europeans, volunteered to transfer to the RPN. India retained the remainder of the RIN's assets and personnel, and many British officers opted to continue serving in the RIN.

In May 1948, Ajitendu Chakraverti became the first Indian commodore in the post independence RIN, in the appointment of Chief of Staff Naval HQ. On 21 June 1948, the additional designation of "Chief of the Naval Staff" was added before that of "Commander in Chief, Royal Indian Navy." In January 1949, the first batch of 13 Indian officers began their flight training, initiating the process which would lead to the formation of the Indian Naval Air Arm. On 26 January 1950, when India adopted its current constitution and became a republic, the Royal Indian Navy became the Indian Navy. Its vessels were redesignated as "Indian Naval Ships", and the "HMIS" ship prefix for existing vessels was changed to 'INS'. At 9:00 that morning, the White Ensign of the Royal Navy was struck and replaced with the Indian Naval Ensign, with the Flag of India in its canton, symbolically completing the transition to the new Indian Navy.

S. No Portrait Name Assumed office Left office Time in office RefCommodore, Bombay Marine (1738 1739)1Commodore Bagwell173917391 yearSuperintendent, Bombay Marine (1739 1830)1Charles Rigby Esq.17398Captain Sir William Taylor Money180118109 years 9Captain Henry Meriton1813182512 years 10Captain Thomas Buchanan182518272 years 11Captain Sir Charles Malcolm 182718303 yearsSuperintendent, Indian Navy (1830 1844)1Captain Sir Charles Malcolm April 183010 January 18373Captain George Hayley Hewett 5 March 190417 March 19094Commodore Walter Lumsden 17 March 190912 June 19175Captain Neville Frederick Jarvis Wilson 12 June 191727 August 19207Captain Sir Edward James Headlam 3 August 19224 October 1928Flag Officer Commanding and Director, Royal Indian Marine (1928–1934)1Vice Admiral Sir Humphrey T. Walwyn 5 October 19282 October 19342Vice Admiral Arthur Bedford 16 November 193423 November 19374Admiral John Henry Godfrey 19 March 194315 March 19465Vice Admiral Sir Geoffrey Audley Miles 15 March 19461 March 1947 Commander in Chief, Royal Indian Navy (1947–1948)1Vice Admiral Sir Geoffrey Audley Miles 1 March 194714 August 19472Rear Admiral John Talbot Savignac Hall 15 August 194720 June 1948Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander in Chief, Royal Indian Navy (1948–1950)1Rear Admiral John Talbot Savignac Hall 21 June 194814 August 19482Vice Admiral Sir William Edward Parry 14 August 194825 January 1950