A Bangladesh Navy delegation headed by Rear Admiral M Shaheen Iqbal, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Personnel) visited Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) on Wednesday.
CMD Rear Admiral (Retd) LV Sarat Babu briefed the team the unique capabilities and facilities of the shipyard as well as various shipbuilding, repairs and submarine repair projects that had been undertaken in the past as well as those currently on hand.
Incidentally, the first ship acquired by the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, MV Banglar Doot, soon after independence was built by the HSL.
Noting the fact that the Bangaldesh Navy had recently inducted two submarines into its fleet, Rear Admiral LV Sarat Babu informed the delegation about the submarine retrofit capabilities of the HSL which happens to be the only yard in India to have carried out the refits of three classes of submarines (refit of two Egyptian submarines in 1971, of F-class INS Vagli and EKM class INS Sindhukirti).
The delegation showed keen interest in knowing the design capabilities of the shipyard and solicited HSL’s views regarding building in-house design capabilities by their shipyards. The C&MD offered to help the Bangladeshi shipyards in enhancing their design capabilities through technical assistance, consultancy and collaborative working.
The Bangladesh Navy delegation visited the GRSE shipyard, Kolkata on August 7 and the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam on August 8, before visiting the HSL.