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CHILKA (1922)
Service dates: 1922-1941
Official number: 146280
Shipping lines: BRITISH INDIA STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY LTD.
Ship type:
Passenger/Cargo Ship.
Career
- 13.11.1919
- Keel laid.
- 08.06.1921
- Launched.
- 27.01.1922
- Ran trials.
- 10.02.1922
- Delivered as Chilka for British India Steam Navigation Company. She and the Ethiopia (still completing) came with a total bill of £848,288.
- 03.1940
- Requisitioned for the Liner Division.
- 1941
- Trooped in the Indian Ocean and Far East seas.
- 02.1942
- Served as a Military Store Ship.
- 11.03.1942
- En route from Padang to Sumatra she was shelled by the Japanese submarine I-2 whose fire destroyed Chilka’s gun aft. The submarine then proceeded to sink the ship (00°30’S-95°50’E). Cadet Shahabuddin, though wounded, attempted to put out the fire with his bare hands, for which he was later awarded the BEM and Lloyd’s War Medal. The survivors, unmolested, set sail for Mentawei Islands which the lifeboats reached on 16th March. Other boats were only found after 35 days at sea and taken to Karachi. Only seven were lost; all killed during the initial attack.