BNS ''Somudra Avijan'' is one of the two largest ships of the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy () is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for the defence of Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area from any external threat, the security of sea ports and exclusive economic zones of Ban ...

along with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

. Although originally a

high endurance cutter The designation of high endurance cutter (WHEC) was created in 1965 when the United States Coast Guard adopted its own designation system. High endurance cutters encompass the largest cutters previously designated by the United States Navy as g ...

the Bangladesh Navy reclassified the ship as a

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

. The Bangladesh Navy acquired the ship from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

under Excess Defense Articles.

History

From 1969 to 2015 the ship was known as and served the US Coast Guard as a

. She was decommissioned on 3 February 2015 and was acquired by Bangladesh under the

Foreign Assistance Act The Foreign Assistance Act (, et seq.) is a United States law governing foreign aid policy. It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure of U.S. foreign assista ...

as an Excess Defense Article. She was officially handed over to the

on 5 May 2015. USCGC Rush WHEC-723

Career

BNS ''Somudra Avijan'' visited the port of Manila,

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

from 13 to 16 November 2015 on her way to Bangladesh from United States. She also visited

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

on her way. The ship arrived at

Chattogram Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

, Bangladesh on 28 November 2015. On 19 March 2016, she was commissioned by the Bangladesh Navy. The ship took part in 15th Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) and ''2nd Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo (MNEK-2016)'', a multinational

naval exercise A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

arranged by

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy (, TNI-AL) is the Navy, naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol Indonesia's lengthy coastline, to enforce and patrol the territorial waters and Exclus ...

for

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

and ASEAN+ nations held at

Padang Padang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of West Sumatra. It had a population of 833,562 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 909,040 at the 2020 Census;Bad ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. On her way back, she visited

Port Klang Port Klang () is the principal port of Malaysia on the Strait of Malacca. Known during colonial times as Port Swettenham (), it was renamed to Port Klang in July 1972 and has since become the largest port in the country. It is located about sou ...

, Malaysia on a goodwill visit. ''Somudra Avijan'', with her

left Chattogram for India and Sri Lanka on a goodwill visit on 18 September 2016. The ships were at

Port Blair Port Blair (), officially named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headqu ...

, India from 21 to 25 September and at Colombo port, Sri Lanka from 29 September to 4 October. They returned Chattogram on 9 October 2016. Somudra Avijan left for another goodwill visit in the neighboring countries in October 2017. She stayed at Visakhapatnam Port of India from 16 to 19 October 2017 . and at Colombo port of Sri Lanka from 23 to 29 October. The ship left Chattogram on 18 April 2018 to take part in ''3rd Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo (MNEK-2018)'' to be held in

Lombok Lombok, is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...

, Indonesia from 4 May to 9 May 2018. On her way to Lombok, she will visit the Port Klang of Malaysia from 24 April to 27 April 2017. She will visit the

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

from 16 May to 20 May 2018 on her way back home. The ship returned home on 24 May 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somudra Avijan Ships of the Bangladesh Navy Frigates of the Bangladesh Navy Hamilton-class cutters of the Bangladesh Navy Hamilton-class cutters Ships built in Bridge City, Louisiana 1968 ships Articles containing video clips

History

Career

See also

References