KD ''Laksamana Tun Abdul Jamil'' (F135) is the second ship of

Laksamana-class corvette The Laksamana class is a class of small missile corvettes comprising four ships currently in service with the Royal Malaysian Navy. All four ships of the Laksamana class are currently serving in the 24th Corvette Squadron of the Royal Malaysia ...

currently in service with the

Royal Malaysian Navy The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN, ms, Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia; TLDM; Jawi: ) is the naval arm of the Malaysian Armed Forces. RMN is the main agency responsible for the country's maritime surveillance and defense operations. RMN's area of o ...

. She built by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

based on the Type 550 corvette design. ''Laksamana Tun Abdul Jamil'' constitute the Royal Malaysian Navy's 24th corvette Squadron.

Development

The Laksamana-class

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

s of the

are modified s built by

, Italy. They were originally ordered by Iraqi Navy in February 1981.Sharpe 1989, p. 282 The corvettes were never delivered to Iraq and instead refitted and sold to Malaysia in mid 1990s.Saunders 2009, p. 497

Service history

''Laksamana Tun Abdul Jamil'' were originally ordered by the

Iraqi Navy The Iraqi Naval Forces (Arabic: القوات البحرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed forces of Iraq. Formed in 1937, initially as the ''Iraqi Coastal Defense Force,'' its primary resp ...

as ''Saad Ibn Abi Wakkad'' (F218). Her keel was laid down on 17 September 1982, launched on 30 December 1983 and she was completed in 1988. Upon her completion, ''Saad Ibn Abi Wakkad'' was laid up at

Muggiano Lerici ( lij, Lerxi, locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of La Spezia in Liguria (northern Italy), part of the Italian Riviera. It is situated on the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia, southeast of La Spezia. It is known as the place ...

due to trade embargo during

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...

that prevented her from being delivered to Iraq. She was finally released for delivery in 1990, but as Iraq was again embargoed following its invasion of Kuwait, the ship was kept laid up by Fincantieri. It was proposed that she would be requisitioned by

Italian Navy "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...

or sold to either Morocco or Colombia.Gardiner, Chumbley & Budzbon 1995, p. 188-189 Royal Malaysian Navy signed a contract with Fincantieri for ''Saad Ibn Abi Wakkad'' and her sister ''Khalid Ibn Al Walid'' on 26 October 1995. She and her sister were refitted at Muggiano and later arrived in Malaysia in September 1997. The ship was commissioned as KD ''Laksamana Tun Abdul Jamil'' on 28 July 1997. RMN confirmed that she and other sister ships will be upgrade to extend their service life.

References

* * * {{Royal Malaysian Navy Ships Corvette classes Laksamana-class corvettes Corvettes of Malaysia Ships built by Fincantieri 1983 ships