BNS Bangabandhu

BNS Bangabandhu steams off the coast of Bangladesh during CARAT 2012 exercise
History
Bangladesh
Name	BNS Bangabandhu
Namesake	Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Ordered	1998
Builder	Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Republic of Korea
Laid down	12 May 1999
Launched	29 August 2000
Commissioned	20 June 2001
Decommissioned	13 February 2002
Reclassified	Reduced to the reserve on 13 February 2002
Name	BNS Khalid Bin Walid
Recommissioned	13 July 2007
Renamed	BNS Bangabandhu in 2009
Homeport	Chattogram
Identification	Pennant number: F 25
Nickname(s)	BNS BB
Status	In active service
General characteristics
Class and type	Modified Ulsan-class frigate
Displacement	2400-2500 tons
Length	103.7 m (340 ft)
Beam	12.5 m (41 ft)
Draught	3.8 m (12 ft)
Propulsion	CODAD: 4 SEMT-Pielstick 12V PA6V280 STC diesels; 22,501 hp (16.779 MW) sustained; 2 × shafts
Speed	25 knots (46 km/h)
Range	4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km)
Armament	2 × 4 Otomat Mk 2 Block IV AShM; 1 × 8 FM-90N SAM; 1 × Otobreda 76 mm/62 Super Rapid; 2 × DARDO 40 mm dual barreled CIWS; 6 (2 triple) x 324 mm B-515 torpedo tubes for Whitehead A244S
Aircraft carried	1 ×AgustaWestland AW109 SAR Helicopter

BNS Bangabandhu (Bengali: বানৌজা বঙ্গবন্ধু) is a guided-missile frigate of the Bangladesh Navy. She is currently based at Chattogram, serving with the Commodore Commanding BN Flotilla (COMBAN). She is currently the only frigate of the Bangladesh Navy armed with ASW torpedo and gun based CIWS.

Armament

This vessel has the Otomat Mk 2 Block IV anti-ship missiles on board the vessel which has a range of 180 kilometres (110 mi).^[1]

In April 2018, Bangladesh Navy issued a tender for replacing the two 40 mm Fast Forty guns on board the ship with a new 40 mm twin-barrel gun system.^[2]

Career

Bangabandhu was named after Bangladesh's founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is popularly called Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal).^[3] The ship was ordered in March 1998. She was laid down on 12 May 1999 at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Republic of Korea. She was launched on 29 August 2000, and commissioned on 20 June 2001.^[4]

In 2007 she was recommissioned again under a new name, as BNS Khalid Bin Walid. Later on in 2009 she was renamed BNS Bangabandhu.

The ship participated in Exercise Ferocious Falcon, a multinational crisis management exercise, held at Doha, Qatar in November 2012. While transiting to the exercise, the frigate visited the port of Kochi, India.^[5] The ship took part in Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training(CARAT), an annual bilateral exercise with United States Navy, from 2011 to 2015.^[6]

On 29 August 2013, the ship received the National Standard.^[7]

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a 777-200ER, went missing while in flight. Due to the possibility of finding the wreckage in the Bay of Bengal, Bangabandhu, along with the frigate Umar Farooq, joined the search operation in the region.^[8]

On 31 May 2016, she started for Colombo, Sri Lanka with 150 tonnes of relief for the victims of the floods and landslides caused by Cyclone Roanu. The relief included drugs, water purifying machines, pure drinking water, tents, food items and generators. She also joined the rescue efforts there.^[9]

The ship left for Qatar on 22 February 2018 to take part in 6th Doha International Maritime Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX-2018) to be held from 12 to 14 March 2018. She paid goodwill visits to Mumbai port, in India, from 2 to 5 March 2018 and to Colombo port in Sri Lanka from 22 to 25 March 2018.^[10] On 29 March 2018, she returned to her homeport, Chattogram.^[11]

See also

• List of active ships of the Bangladesh Navy

References and notes

1. "OTOMAT MK2 BLOCK IV - MBDA". MBDA. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
2. "Tender Specification Replacement of 2 X 40 L 70 Naval Gun - BNS Bangabandhu" (PDF). DGDP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
3. Rozario, Rock Ronald (18 March 2021). "Bangladesh still far from achieving founding father's dreams". Union of Catholic Asian News (Opinion). Retrieved 19 March 2021.
4. Saunders, Stephen, ed. (2014). Jane's Fighting Ships 2014-2015. Coulsdon, UK: IHS Jane's. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-7106-3101-5.
5. "BNS Bangabandhu berths at Kochi". The Hindu. 5 November 2012. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
6. "US-Bangla jt exercise begins today". The Independent. Dhaka. 30 September 2015. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
7. "PM confers National Standard to BNS Bangabandhu". NewsWorld365.com. 29 August 2013. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
8. "Bangladesh sends 2 navy ships to verify MH370 wreckage claim". The Daily Star. 2 May 2014. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
9. "Bangladesh Navy's ship starts for Sri Lanka with more aid for flood victims". bdnews24.com. 31 May 2016. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
10. "BNS Bangabandhu sails for Doha". The Bangladesh Post. 22 February 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
11. কাতারে অনুষ্ঠিত আন্তর্জাতিক সমুদ্র মহড়া ও প্রদর্শনীতে অংশগ্রহণ শেষে দেশে ফিরেছে নৌবাহিনী যুদ্ধজাহাজ ‘বঙ্গবন্ধু’. ISPR. 29 March 2018. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2019.

External links

• Media related to F25 Bangabandhu (ship, 2001) at Wikimedia Commons
• Photo from Google Earth