Bangladesh Navy to Receive Alameda's Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis

By Lt. Cmdr. Steven Youde, Government Affairs Officer - US Coast Guard

The Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis, a 378-foot high endurance cutter homeported in Alameda, is scheduled to be decommissioned and transferred to the Bangladesh navy as the BNS Somudro Joy during a ceremony on Coast Guard Island on Thursday, May 23.

Commissioned in 1972, Jarvis is the fourth in its class of high endurance cutters to be decommissioned to make room for the Coast Guard's new National Security Cutters. 

The transfer ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at Coast Guard Island and will be presided over by Vice Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, Commander Coast Guard Pacific Area and Chief of Naval Staff for the Bangladesh navy, Vice Adm. Muhammad Farid Habib.

A 20-member team from the Bangladesh navy, led by prospective commanding officer Capt. Mohammad Nazmul Karim Kislu, arrived in Alameda in March to begin preparations to accept Jarvis.

An additional 70 members of the Bangladesh crew arrived in May.

Upon completion of the transfer, 26 former Jarvis crew members will serve as advisors, assisting the Bangladesh crew until the BNS Somudro Joy's departure from California later this year.