BNS ''Gomati'' is an

offshore patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

of the Bangladesh Navy. She was originally built as a Fishery Protection Vessel for the British Royal Navy, entering service as HMS ''Anglesey'' in 1979. She was sold to Bangladesh in 2002, entering service in 2003.

Design and description

The Island-class was the result in the increase in the United Kingdom's Exclusive economic zone to , with a resulting increase in the requirements to patrol fishing grounds and oil fields. After evaluation of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency's fishery protection vessel ''Jura'', built by the shipbuilders Hall, Russell & Company to a trawler-like design, the Royal Navy ordered five ships of the Island-class, based on ''Jura''s design in February 1975, with a further two ships, ''Anglesey'' and on 21 October 1977. ''Anglesey'' was long overall and at the waterline, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was normal and deep load. Two Ruston 12 RK 3 CM diesel engines rated at a total of drove a single propeller shaft, giving a speed of , adequate to deal with the majority of trawlers in service in European waters. Range was at . The earlier ships of the class had suffered from excessive motions in high seas, and so ''Anglesey'' was fitted with fin stabiliser during build. Armament consisted of a single Bofors 40 mm gun backed up by two

machine guns A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

. The ship had a crew of 5 officers and 29 other ranks, plus a detachment of Royal Marines if necessary.

History

HMS ''Anglesey'' was laid down at Hall Russell's Aberdeen shipyard on 6 February 1978 and launched on 18 October 1978. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 1 June 1979. On commissioning she joined the Offshore Division of the Fishery Protection Squadron. On 13–14 August 1979, the Fastnet yacht race was hit by a severe storm, with ''Anglesey'' taking part in the resulting rescue operations, saving seven sailors from the yacht ''Bonaventure II''. In 2002 she was sold to the Bangladesh Navy.

Career

''Gomati'' transferred on 12 September 2003. On 3 October 2004, she was commissioned into the Bangladesh Navy. She is currently serving under the command of the Commodore Commanding BN

Khulna Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 b ...

(COMKHUL). ''Gomati'' took part in ''Exercise Aman'' in 2013, a multinational exercise held at Karachi port of Pakistan. She visited the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka from 23 to 26 February and Visakhapatnam Port in India from 17 to 20 March 2013 on goodwill missions.

References

Bibliography

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