The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has commissioned a new ship brought to replace the largest ship in the Coast Guard Ship (CGS) Huravee.
The new ship was commissioned by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih at a special ceremony with cabinet ministers and senior military officers in attendance. MNDF stated that the new ship, donated by India, has more operational capacity than CGS Huravee, which has now been decommissioned. CGS Huravee was donated by India in 2006 and became the largest ship in the MNDF Coast Guard fleet. The ship has been refitted six times at the Indian Naval Dockyard.
The government of India has donated a 14m landing craft along with the new ship, which was commissioned after the Maldivian crew completed their training. The government has made efforts in the past four years to strengthen and expand MNDF to all parts of the country. As such a fireboat has been added to the Coast Guard fleet and India continues to provide assistance to strengthen the defence force.