The US Coast Guard decommissioned and transferred the Cutter Rush to the Bangladesh Navy as the BNS Somudra Avijan during an official signing ceremony on Coast Guard Island in Alameda Wednesday afternoon.
A 20-member team from the Bangladesh Navy, led by prospective commanding officer Capt. Mohammad Waseem Maqsood, arrived in Alameda in March to begin preparations to receive the Rush. Seventy additional crewmembers of the Bangladesh Navy are scheduled to arrive May 20. Until the BNS Somudra Avijan departs from Alameda later this year, former crewmembers of the Rush will serve as advisors and assist the Bangladesh crew.
Commissioned July 15, 1969, the Cutter Rush was the ninth of the Hamilton Class High Endurance Cutters to be replaced by the National Security Cutters. The NSCs, compared to the 378-foot high endurance cutters, are designed to provide better sea-keeping and higher sustained transit speeds, greater endurance and range, and the ability to launch and recover small boats from astern, as well as aviation support facilities and a flight deck for helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.
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Image: USCG