HMIS Bihar (J247)

HMIS Bihar (J247) was a Bangor-class minesweeper built for the Royal Navy. It transferred to the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during the Second World War.

Design and description
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. Bihar displaced 673 LT at standard load and 860 LT at deep load. The ship had an overall length of 189 ft, a beam of 28 ft and a draught of 10 ft. The ship's complement consisted of 60 officers and ratings.

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 2400 shp and gave a maximum speed of 16 kn. The ship carried a maximum of 160 LT of fuel oil that gave her a range of 2800 nmi at 10 kn.

The VTE-powered Bangors were armed with a QF 12-pounder (7.62 cm) 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. For escort work, their minesweeping gear could be exchanged for around 40 depth charges.

Construction and career
HMIS Bihar was ordered in 1940 and built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers in Kolkata, India. She was commissioned into the RIN in 1944. Bihar was a part of the Eastern Fleet, and escorted numerous convoys between Africa, British India and Australia in 1944-45.

On 15 July 1944, the British merchant ship Tanda was torpedoed and sunk by GS U-181 in the Arabian Sea at position 13.36667°N, 74.15°W northwest of Mangalore. HMIS Bihar with HMS Monkshood (K207) rescued 197 surviving crew of the Tanda. She was scrapped in 1949.