''Verni'' ( bg, Верни, , Loyal) is a ''Wielingen''-class frigate of the

Bulgarian Navy The Bulgarian Navy ( bg, Военноморски сили на Република България, Voennomorski sili na Republika Balgariya, lit=Naval Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria) is the navy of the Republic of Bulgaria and forms part of ...

. She was originally commissioned as ''Wielingen'' in the

Belgian Navy The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium. History Early history The Belgian Navy w ...

Construction and career

''Wielingen'' was launched on 30 March 1976 at the Boelwerf in

Temse Temse (; french: Tamise ) is a municipality in East Flanders, Belgium. The name Temse is derived from the Gallo-Roman/Gaul Tamisiacum or Tamasiacum. This is also reflected in the French name for the town, Tamise. The main sights include the Chu ...

, and christened by

Queen Fabiola of Belgium Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

, on 20 January 1978. The patronage of the ''Wielingen'' was accepted by the city of

Malmedy Malmedy (; german: Malmünd, ; wa, Måmdiy) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2018, Malmedy had a total population of 12,654. The total area is 99.96 km2 which gives a populati ...

. ''Wielingen'' was the first ship in the ''Wielingen'' class, and had the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

F910. The ship was sold to the

and left the

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...

Naval Base in February 2009 under the Bulgarian flag. She was renamed ''Verni'', with the new pennant number 42. Bulgarian frigate Verni (42) in the Black Sea in July 2015

Bulgarian frigate Verni (42) in the Black Sea in July 2015

Wielingen-class frigates 1976 ships Wielingen-class frigates of the Bulgarian Navy Ships built in Belgium Frigates of the Cold War {{mil-ship-stub