BNS Somudra Joy is one of the largest and the heaviest frigates of the Bangladesh Navy. They acquired the ship from the United States under Excess Defense Articles.
History
From 1972 to 2012 the ship was known as and served the United States Coast Guard as a high endurance cutter. She was decommissioned on 30 March 2012 and was acquired by Bangladesh under the Foreign Assistance Act as an Excess Defense Article. A team of US Coast Guard personnel visited Bangladesh in February 2013. The first group of Bangladesh Navy personnel, consisting of 7 officers and 13 sailors, left Bangladesh in February to start training on board Jarvis on 13 March 2013. She was officially handed over to the Bangladesh Navy on 23 May 2013.
Career
BNS Somudra Joy arrived at her new homeport of Chattogram on 13 December 2013 and was commissioned on 23 December 2013. The ship is currently serving with Commanding Commodore BN Flotilla. During her transit to Bangladesh from the United States, she was diverted to the Philippines to distribute emergency aid for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan on behalf of Government of Bangladesh. She arrived there on 29 November 2013. BNS Somudra Joy was sent to Maldives on 9 December 2014, to aid in the water crisis that took place in capital Malé on 8 December 2014. She carried 100 tonnes of drinking water and five desalination plants there. On 23 April 2015, she left for Qatar to join the multinational maritime exercise, Exercise Ferocious Falcon-2015. The ship took part in Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, an annual bilateral exercise with United States Navy, in 2015. Somudra Joy left Chattogram on 30 January 2016 on a seven-day visit to India to join International Fleet Review 2016. The fleet review held in Visakhapatnam, India where 52 countries participated. Somudra Joy, with sister ship left Chattogram for India and Sri Lanka on a goodwill visit on 18 September 2016. The ships were at Port Blair, 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 Joy participated in ASEAN International Fleet Review 2017 held at Pattaya beach of Thailand on 21 November 2017. She stayed in Thailand from 16 November to 21 November 2017 to participate in the exercise. On the way to Thailand, the ship visited Lumut Port of Malaysia from 8 November to 11 November 2017. The ship also visited Langkawi port of Malaysia on her way back home from 27 November to 30 November 2017. The ship left Chattogram on a training tour on 1 September 2018. She visited the Visakhapatnam Port of India from 4 September to 8 September 2018 and Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka from 12 September to 16 September 2018. She returned home on 20 September 2018. Somudra Joy participated in Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition-2019, held from 26 to 30 March. She left Chattogram to take part in the event on 21 March 2019. The ship came back home on 20 April 2019. On 1 September 2019, Samudra Joy left Chattogram for Sri Lanka and India on a training visit. She was at the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka from 7 September to 10 September 2019 and at the port of Visakhapatnam of India 14 September to 17 September 2019. She came back home on 19 September 2019.
