View source for HMS Rotherham

{{short description|Destroyer of the Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|INS Rajput}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= HMS Rotherham 1942 IWM FL 10240.jpg
|Ship caption=''Rotherham'' on completion, September 1942
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Rotherham''
|Ship namesake=Captain [[Edward Rotheram]]
|Ship ordered=2 April 1940
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[John Brown & Company]], [[Clydebank]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=10 April 1941
|Ship launched=21 March 1942
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=27 August 1942
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=August 1942
|Ship decommissioned=1945
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship refit=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]]: H09
|Ship motto= 
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=*'''Battle honours:'''
*Sabang 1944
*Burma
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=Sold to [[India]], 1948; Scrapped, 1976
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=On a Field Blue, a [[stag]] [[trippant]] Gold between a wreath of oak also Gold
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=India
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|India|naval-1950}}
|Ship name=INS ''Rajput''
|Ship namesake=[[Rajput]]
|Ship acquired=1948
|Ship commissioned=27 July 1949
|Ship decommissioned= 1976
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship refit=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship identification=D141
|Ship motto= 
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours= 
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate= Scrapped
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=<ref name="lenton">{{cite book|last=Lenton|first=H.T|title=British and Empire Warships of the Second World War|publisher=Greenhill Books|isbn=1-85367-277-7}}</ref>
|Ship class= [[Q and R-class destroyer|R-class]] [[destroyer]]
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1705|LT|t|0|lk=in|abbr=on}} light
*{{convert|2425|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full load
|Ship length= {{convert|358|ft|3|in|m|1|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|o/a]]
|Ship beam= {{convert|35|ft|9|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draught= {{convert|9|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=*2 × Admiralty 3-drum [[water-tube boiler]]s
*[[Parsons Marine Steam Turbines|Parsons]] geared steam turbines
*{{convert|40000|shp|abbr=on}}
*2 shafts
|Ship speed={{convert|36|kn}}
|Ship range={{convert|4675|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|20|kn|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=237
|Ship sensors=*[[List of World War II British naval radar#Type 290|Type 290]] air warning radar
*[[Type 285 radar|Type 285]] ranging & bearing radar
*[[High frequency direction finding|Huff-Duff]] (High-frequency Direction-finder)
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*4 × [[4.7 inch QF Mark IX|QF 4.7 inch (120 mm) Mk.IX guns]], single mounts CP Mk.XVIII
*4 × [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|QF 2 pdr Mk.VIII]] (40 mm L/39), quad mount Mk.VII
*6 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|QF 20&nbsp;mm Oerlikon]], single mount P Mk.III
*8 (2×4) [[torpedo tube]]s for [[British 21 inch torpedo#21 inch Mark XI|21 in Mk.IX torpedoes]]
*4 × throwers & 2 × racks, 70 [[depth charge]]s
|Ship armour=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''HMS ''Rotherham''''' was an [[Q and R-class destroyer|R-class]] [[destroyer]] of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Navy during the Second World War]], named after Captain [[Edward Rotheram]], who commanded {{HMS|Royal Sovereign|1786|6}} during at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] in 1805. ''Rotherham'' was completed in 1942 and equipped as a [[flotilla leader]], having slightly reduced armament to allow for the increased complement and working space required.  Decommissioned in 1945, the ship was sold to [[India]] in 1948, serving as '''INS ''Rajput'' (D141)''' until 1976, when she was scrapped.<ref name="naval-history.net">{{cite web| url=http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-52R-Rotherham.htm| title=HMS ''Rotherham'', destroyer| author=Lt.Cdr. Geoffrey B. Mason RN | year=2003| work=Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War II| location=naval-history.net
| access-date=14 April 2010}}</ref>

==Royal Navy service==

===World War II===
''Rotherham'' was commissioned for service, after completing her [[sea trial]]s, in August 1942. After a period of training at [[Scapa Flow]], she was assigned to serve in the [[Atlantic|South Atlantic]], operating as convoy escort between [[Freetown]], [[Sierra Leone]], and [[Cape Town]] and [[Durban]], [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]] for the rest of the year.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

From February 1944 ''Rotherham'' was deployed in the [[Indian Ocean]], and in April joined the [[Eastern Fleet]] to take part in series of offensive operations against the Japanese in [[Sumatra]] and [[Java]], and the Indian nationalist [[Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind|Azad Hind]] in the [[Andaman Islands]], acting as an escort to aircraft carriers and battleships. In October 1944 ''Rotherham'' sailed to [[Simon's Town]] to refit.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

In early 1945 ''Rotherham'' was deployed intercepting Japanese ships supplying stores and carrying personnel to the [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]], as well as providing support for [[Burma Campaign 1944-1945|military operations in Burma]]. In February, along with her [[sister ship]]s {{HMS|Rapid|H32|2}}, {{HMS|Rocket|H92|2}}, and {{HMS|Roebuck|H95|2}}, she carried out a bombardment of [[Coco Islands|Great Coco Island]], in which more than a thousand 4.7&nbsp;inch shells were fired by the four ships. Further anti-shipping and shore bombardments followed, and in April she provided cover for Allied landings near [[Rangoon]] during "[[Operation Dracula]]". Escort duties continued until the [[Victory over Japan Day|Japanese surrender]] on 15 August.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

===Post-war operations===
''Rotherham'' was then deployed in "[[Operation Zipper]]", the British liberation of [[Penang]], and in early September, as part of "[[Operation Tiderace]]", escorted a fleet led by the cruiser {{HMS|Sussex|96|2}} to [[Singapore]] to take the surrender of the 77,000 Japanese there. ''Rotherham''{{'}}s commander personally accepted the surrender of 34,000 personnel of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] at the Singapore Naval Dockyard at [[Sembawang]], and in commemoration the main entrance was renamed the "Rotherham Gate". The ship remained at Singapore until 27 September 1945, when she sailed to [[Trincomalee]], leaving there on 2 October for [[Portsmouth]], where she was decommissioned and put into the [[Reserve fleet|Reserve]].<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

==Indian Navy service==
''Rotherham'' was sold to India in 1948, and formally transferred to the [[Indian Navy]] on 27 July 1949 as '''INS ''Rajput'' (D141)'''.<ref>Critchley, Mike, "British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers", Maritime Books: Liskeard, UK, 1982. {{ISBN|0-9506323-9-2}}, page 50</ref> She saw active service during the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]]. India maintains that the ''Rajput'' was responsible for sinking the [[Pakistan Navy]] submarine {{Ship|PNS|Ghazi||2}}, though Pakistan contests this, contending that the submarine was sunk by the accidental detonation of one or more of the laid or about-to-be-laid mines the ship was carrying.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

''Rajput'' remained an active fleet unit until 1976 when she was placed on the Disposal List and then scrapped.<ref name="naval-history.net"/>
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1980|isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* {{cite book|last=English|first=John|title=Obdurate to Daring: British Fleet Destroyers 1941–45|publisher=World Ship Society|location=Windsor, UK|year=2001|isbn=978-0-9560769-0-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|date=2006|isbn=1-86176-137-6|author-link=Norman Friedman}}
* {{cite book|last=Lenton|first=H. T.|author-link=Henry Trevor Lenton|title=British & Empire Warships of the Second World War|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1998|isbn=1-55750-048-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Raven|first=Alan|last2=Roberts|first2=John |title=War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes|publisher=Bivouac Books|location=London|year=1978|isbn=0-85680-010-4|name-list-style=amp}}
* {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2|author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}
* {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War 2|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=1988|isbn=0-87021-326-1|location=Annapolis, Maryland|author-link=Michael J. Whitley}}

{{Q and R class destroyer}}
{{Destroyers_of_the_Indian_Navy}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotherham (H09)}}
[[Category:Q and R-class destroyers of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Tyne]]
[[Category:1942 ships]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:R-class destroyers of the Indian Navy]]