KD ''Mahawangsa'' is a

Royal Malaysian Navy The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN, ; Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is the naval arm of the Malaysian Armed Forces. RMN is the main agency responsible for the country's maritime surveillance and defence operations. RMN's area of operation consists of 603,2 ...

4,300-ton multi-role support ship based at Lumut Naval Base in

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

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 ...

. It was named in honor of

Merong Mahawangsa Merong Mahawangsa is a legendary warrior and a ruler who is said to be the first king of Langkasuka, or the modern-day Pattani empire. His tale is mentioned in the Kedah Annals, where it mentions him as a hero who became the first king of Lang ...

, the founder of the Old Kedah. KD stands for ''Kapal DiRaja'' which means ''

His Majesty's Ship His (or Her) Majesty's Ship, abbreviated HMS and H.M.S., is the ship prefix used for ships of the navy in some monarchies. Derivative terms such as HMAS and equivalents in other languages such as SMS are used. Commonwealth Realms United Kingdo ...

'' in the

Malay language Malay ( , ; , Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken primarily by Malays (ethnic group), Malays in several islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula on the mainland Asia. The lang ...

Major operation

The ship has been dispatched to aid victims of the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...

, rushed humanitarian aid to

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee from their country as a result the continuous wars that the country has suffered since the Afghan-Soviet war, the Afghan civil war, the Afghanistan war (2001–2021) or either p ...

in 2001, and delivered armoured infantry vehicles from 4th Infantry Brigade (Mech) as part of peacekeeper forces for

Operation Astute Operation Astute was an Australian Defence Force, Australian-led military deployment to East Timor to quell unrest and return stability in the 2006 East Timor crisis. It was headed by Brigadier Bill Sowry, and commenced on 25 May 2006 under the ...

during the 2006 East Timor crisis. In her roles as a command ship, KD ''Mahawangsa'' has been involved in several joint exercises with foreign navies, such as the joint Malaysia-Thailand Naval exercises called THALAY LAUT, the Starfish exercises under the Five Power Defence Arrangement and the

Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training The Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) is a series of annual bilateral military exercises conducted by the United States Pacific Fleet, with several member nations of ASEAN in Southeast Asia. Currently, the navies of Bangladesh, ...

(CARAT) series of exercises held with the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. The closing ceremony for CARAT Malaysia 2004 was held aboard KD ''Mahawangsa'', anchored off the island of

Tioman Tioman Island () is , off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, more specifically off the east coast of Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is long and wide and has seven villages, the largest and most populous being Kampung Tekek on the ...

. In September 2008 KD ''Mahawangsa'' was sent to the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

after the hijacking of two

MISC Misc or MISC may refer to: * Misc, written abbreviation for miscellaneous, often used in programs * Misc (title), a gender neutral title * MISC Berhad, or Malaysia International Shipping Corporation * Minimal instruction set computer, a proces ...

oil tankers by

Somali pirates Horn of Africa * Somali Peninsula, a region of East Africa, also known as "The Horn of Africa" * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Greater Somalia ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali culture ...

References

External links

KD MAHAWANGSA at Royal Malaysian Navy Homepage
Sri Indera Sakti-class support ships 1983 ships Ships built in Bremen (state) {{mil-ship-stub