Bangladesh builds drydock at new naval submarine base
The Bangladesh Navy is building a graving dock at its new Sheikh Hasina submarine base in the Bay of Bengal. The new drydock will measure 130m x 30m.
The new submarine base is located at Pekua, in Cox’s Bazar, 200 miles southeast of Dhaka, and has been built with assistance from China. This development signifies a deepening defence partnership between Bangladesh and China, potentially strengthening China’s presence in the Bay of Bengal region. However, this development could be a major irritant to India.
The new Bangladesh Navy naval base’s close proximity to the mouth of the Bay of Bengal brings the possibility of submarine’s from China’s PLAN using the facility.
The Bangladesh Navy already has two former Chinese diesel-electric boats and could potentially acquire more. The two Chinese submarines in the Bangladesh Navy were acquired in 2016 – the former 035 Ming-class boats BNS Nabojatra and BNS Joyjatra. Both boats were commissioned in 2017.
