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

along with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same 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 often share a ...

. 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 gu ...

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 somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

. The Bangladesh Navy acquired the ship from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

under Excess Defense Articles.

History

From 1969 to 2015 the ship was known as and served the

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

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 U.S. foreign assistance ...

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 The Port of Manila ( fil, Pantalan ng Maynila) refers to the collective facilities and terminals that process maritime trade function in harbors in Metro Manila. Located in the Port Area and Tondo districts of Manila, Philippines facing the M ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

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. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

on her way. The ship arrived at

Chattogram Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

, 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 military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the comb ...

arranged by

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut, , Indonesian National Military-Naval Force, TNI-AL) is the naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol I ...

for

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

and ASEAN+ nations held at

Padang Padang () is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. With a Census population of 1,015,000 as of 2022, it is the 16th most populous city in Indonesia and the most populous city on the west coast of Sumatra. Th ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. On her way back, she visited

Port Klang Port Klang ( ms, Pelabuhan Klang) is a town and the main gateway by sea into Malaysia. Known during colonial times as Port Swettenham ( ms, Pelabuhan Swettenham) but renamed Port Klang in July 1972, it is the largest port in the country. It is l ...

, 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 () 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 headquarters for the district of South An ...

, 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 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 ...

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 (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

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