BNS ''Gomati'' is an offshore patrol vessel of the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...

. She was originally built as a Fishery Protection Vessel for the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, 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 The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) was an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. On 1 April 2009, the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency and Fisheries Research Services were merged with the Scottish Government Marine Direc ...

's fishery protection vessel ''Jura'', built by the shipbuilders

Hall, Russell & Company Hall, Russell & Company, Limited was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland. History Brothers James and William Hall, Thomas Russell, a Glasgow engineer, and James Cardno Couper founded the company in 1864 to build steam engines and boile ...

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 __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and at the waterline, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was normal and deep load. Two Ruston 12 RK 3 CM

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s 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 Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

gun backed up by two machine guns. The ship had a crew of 5 officers and 29 other ranks, plus a detachment of

Royal Marine The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

s if necessary.

History

HMS ''Anglesey'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

at Hall Russell's

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

shipyard on 6 February 1978 and launched on 18 October 1978. She was commissioned into the

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 Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

Commanding BN Khulna (COMKHUL). ''Gomati'' took part in ''Exercise Aman'' in 2013, a multinational exercise held at

Karachi port The Port of Karachi ( ur, , ''Bandar gāh Karāchī'') is one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum) located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is located on the Kar ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. She visited the

port of Colombo The Port of Colombo (known as Port of Kolomtota during the early 14th Century Kotte Kingdom) is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean. Located in Colombo, on the southwestern shores on the Kelani River, it serves as an ...

, Sri Lanka from 23 to 26 February and

Visakhapatnam Port Visakhapatnam Port is one of 13 major ports in India and the only major port of Andhra Pradesh. It is India's third largest state-owned port by volume of cargo handled and largest on the Eastern Coast. It is located midway between the Chennai a ...

in India from 17 to 20 March 2013 on goodwill missions.

References

Bibliography

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External links