HMIS Cornwallis (L09)

History
United Kingdom
Name	Lychnis
Ordered	December 1916
Builder	William Hamilton and Company
Launched	21 August 1917
Commissioned	1917
Out of service	1921
Fate	Transferred to the Royal Indian Marine
British India
Name	Cornwallis
Acquired	1921 (transferred from the Royal Navy)
Out of service	1946
Fate	Scrapped 1946
General characteristics
Class and type	Aubrietia-class sloop
Displacement	1,250 tons
Length	255 ft 3 in (77.80 m) p/p 267 ft 9 in (81.61 m) o/a
Beam	33 ft 6 in (10.21 m)
Draught	12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Propulsion	1 × 4-cylinder triple expansion engine 2 × cylindrical boilers 1 screw
Speed	Designed for 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) at 2,500 ihp (1,900 kW), but actually made 15-16.5 knots with this power. Required 3,000 ihp (2,200 kW) for 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h).
Range	205 tons of coal
Complement	80 men
Armament	Designed to mount 3 × 12-pounder guns and 2 × 3-pounder AA, but had 2 × 4 inch gun, 1 × 3-pounder AA and depth charge throwers

HMIS Cornwallis (L09) was an Aubrietia-class sloop, originally built during World War I and commissioned as HMS Lychnis in the Royal Navy (RN) in 1917. She was transferred to the Royal Indian Marine (RIM) and commissioned as Cornwallis in 1921.

She served during World War II in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN), the successor to the RIM. Her pennant number was changed to U09 in 1940. Although originally built as a minesweeper, she was primarily used as a convoy escort during the war. She was scrapped soon after the end of the war.

History

HMS Lychnis was ordered in December 1916 as a part of the Emergency War Programme of World War I from William Hamilton and Company, Port Glasgow and was launched on 21 August 1917. She commissioned in 1917. She is credited with sinking the German submarine SM U-64 by depth charging and shelling on 17 June 1918 in the Mediterranean Sea.

Following the end of the war, she was transferred to the Royal Indian Marine and commissioned as HMIS Cornwallis. In 1934, RIM was renamed Royal Indian Navy. During World War II, she was a part of the Eastern Fleet. She escorted numerous convoys in the Indian Ocean 1942-45.

She was decommissioned and scrapped in 1946, soon after the end of the war.

References

• Collins, J.T.E. (1964). The Royal Indian Navy, 1939–1945. Official History of the Indian Armed Forces In the Second World War. New Delhi: Combined Inter-Services Historical Section (India & Pakistan).
• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0380-7.
• Kemp, Paul (1997). U-Boats Destroyed: German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. London: Arms & Armour Press. ISBN 1-85409-321-5.