The Bombay explosion occurred on 14 April 1944, in the Victoria Dock of Bombay, British India when the British freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying a mixed cargo of cotton bales, timber, oil, gold, and ammunition including around 1,400 tons of explosives with an additional 240 tons of torpedoes and weapons, caught fire and was destroyed in two giant blasts, scattering debris, sinking surrounding ships and setting fire to the area, killing around 800 to 1,300 people. Some 80,000 people were made homeless and 71 firemen lost their lives in the aftermath.
During the Second World War (1939–1945), India was a part of the British Empire. India officially declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939. India, as a part of the Allied Nations, sent over two and a half million soldiers to fight under British command against the Axis powers. India also provided the base for American operations in support of China in the China Burma India Theater.
HMAS Kanimbla was a passenger ship converted for use as an armed merchant cruiser and landing ship infantry during World War II. Built during the mid-1930s as the passenger liner MV Kanimbla for McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co, the ship operated in Australian waters until 1939, when she was requisitioned for military service, converted into an armed merchant cruiser, and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Kanimbla.
A landing ship, infantry (LSI) or infantry landing ship was one of a number of types of British Commonwealth vessels used to transport landing craft and troops engaged in amphibious warfare during the Second World War. LSIs were operated by the Royal Navy, British Merchant Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Indian Navy, and Royal Australian Navy. They transported British Commonwealth and other Allied troops in sea assaults and invasions throughout the war.
HMAS Westralia (F95/C61) was an auxiliary cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built by Scottish shipbuilder Harland and Wolff and completed in 1929, Westralia was operated by the Huddart Parker company until 1939, when she was requisitioned for service with the RAN as an Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC). Fitted with guns and commissioned in early 1940, Westralia was initially used to escort convoys in the Pacific and Indian oceans. In November 1940, the largest mutiny in RAN history occurred aboard the ship, with 104 men charged.
Empire Battleaxe was a British ship of the Second World War and as HMS Donovan in service with the Royal Navy just after the Second World War. Built as a Type C1-S-AY1 Landing Ship, Infantry named Cape Berkeley she then saw merchant service as Empire Battleaxe before being commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Empire Battleaxe and then Donovan. After she was decommissioned she returned to merchant service as Empire Battleaxe and was returned to the USA where she was renamed Cape Berkeley once again. A proposed sale in 1948 to China and renaming to Hai C fell through and she was scrapped in 1966.
HMNZS Monowai (F59) was a former Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) merchant vessel. At the outbreak of World War II she became an armed merchant cruiser of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). She subsequently became HMS Monowai, a Landing Ship, Infantry and mostly operated as a troopship. In 1946 she returned to her old trade as a passenger ship.
Built in 1918, the SS Santa Teresa was originally a passenger liner. In World War I she was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy and served under the title USS Santa Teresa. She served as a commercial vessel between the wars, first under her original name, and later as the SS Kent. During World War II she served first with the U.S. Army as the USAT Ernest Hinds, named for Major General Ernest Hinds. She was later part of the Navy as USS Kent (AP-28). She spent the final part of the war as an Army hospital ship, once more under the name USAT Ernest Hinds.
HMS Sainfoin was a landing ship, infantry of the Royal Navy that was built in 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Wilmington, California, United States as the merchant vessel Cape Washington. She was transferred to the Ministry of War Transport in 1944 and renamed Empire Crossbow. Later that year, she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and commissioned as HMS Sainfoin, with the pennant number F183. In 1946, she was returned to merchant service as Empire Crossbow. She was transferred to the United States in 1947 and renamed Cape Washington. The ship was then laid up until scrapped in 1964.
HMS Nadder was a River-class frigate of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was transferred to the Royal Indian Navy in 1945 and renamed Shamsher.
HMIS Godavari was a Black Swan-class sloop which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II.
HMIS Narbada (U40) was a Modified Bittern class sloop, later known as the Black Swan class, which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II.
HMIS Kistna (U46) was a Black Swan-class sloop which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II.
HMIS Cauvery, pennant number U10, was a Black Swan-class sloop which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II.
HMIS Punjab (J239) was a Bathurst-class minesweeper which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II.
HMIS Lawrence (L83) was a sloop, commissioned in 1919 into the Royal Indian Marine (RIM).
Aikoku Maru (愛国丸) was an armed merchant cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. The ship entered service in 1940, the ship was later converted to an ammunition ship. She was sunk in February 1944 during Operation Hailstone.
Noshiro Maru was a Nippon Yusen Kaisen (NYK) Liner completed in 1934 and requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in 1937 to transport troops to China following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. She was later returned to civilian service before being converted to an armed merchant cruiser by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in 1941. She was bombed twice and torpedoed twice as a World War II troopship before being abandoned at Manila in 1944.
Fort Stikine was a British Fort ship which was built in Canada in 1942. Owned by the American War Shipping Administration, she was leased under charter to the Ministry of War Transport under the Lend-Lease scheme and operated under the management of the Port Line. Fort Stikine only had a short career, and was destroyed in an explosion at Bombay, India, in April 1944 that caused the loss of a further thirteen ships.
SS Elmira Victory was a Victory ship built during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. It was built and launched by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation on May 12, 1944 and completed on May 31, 1944. The ship's United States Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3 and hull number 105 (1021). The ship was Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation's 21st victory ship. The Maritime Commission turned it over for Merchant navy operation to a civilian contractor, the Isthmian Steamship Company under the United States Merchant Marine act for the War Shipping Administration. She was named after the city of Elmira, New York.
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