The UK Government and the Bangladesh Navy have entered into a government‑to‑government sales agreement for the former HMS Enterprise, an Echo‑class hydrographic and oceanographic survey vessel.
The vessel, known for its service in survey operations, humanitarian support, and disaster‑response missions, will now help strengthen Bangladesh’s maritime security and regional stability efforts, the UK Ministry of Defence said.
It will also provide hydrographic, oceanographic and scientific research capability and offer significant research opportunities for Bangladeshi universities.
Enterprise served with the Royal Navy for 20 years until her decommissioning in March 2023. HMS Echo, her only sister ship, retired from service in June 2022.
Aside from her regular hydrographic duties – which included surveying Beirut harbour in Lebanon in the wake of the explosion that devastated their docks and left over hundred people dead in August 2020 – Enterprise evacuated civilians from Libya amid civil unrest in 2014.
The ship also ventured closer to the North Pole than any other Royal Navy vessel in 2022. The ship headed into the Arctic to update charts and scientific understanding of waters increasingly patrolled by Royal Navy warships to maintain freedom of navigation of the High North.
