The Royal Bahamas Defence Force corvette HMBS Bahamas (P-60) has returned home after undergoing upgrades at Damen’s Maaskant Shipyard in Stellendam, the Netherlands.
Bahama returned to Coral Harbour Base on October 27 after getting underway from the Netherlands on October 4.
The 24-day journey took the ship’s company through the English Channel, and west of the coasts of France, Spain and Portugal to the former Portuguese colonies of Madeira, near Morocco, and Cape Verde, near Mauritania.
After making port of calls in Funchal, Madeira, and Mindelo, Cay Verde, the 200-foot (60-meter) HMBS Bahamas made the trans-Atlantic voyage, covering over 6,000 nautical miles.
HMBS Bahamas is the flagship of the Bahamian fleet and the first of two corvettes in her class.
Similarly to HMBS Nassau (P-61), the second of the two corvettes which already completed the refit, Bahamas had her systems and instrumentation replaced while also undergoing steelwork, repainting and full replacement of the vessel inventory.
Both corvettes were refitted as part of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force’s $232 million ‘Sandy Bottom Project’ which included the acquisition of nine Damen vessels, disaster relief equipment, a bridge simulator and upgrades of various local ports in conjunction with Van Oord.
HMBS Bahamas will now undergo final assessment prior to being officially handed over to the RBDF and returned to service.