Three years after being commissioned, the Bangladesh Navy's frigate, BNS Somudra Avijan, will be getting 367 men so that the warship can be put to proper use during naval operations.

The 367 posts in 34 categories would be included in the organogramme of the warship, which has been taking part in various at home and abroad for the last three years, government sources said.

For creating the posts, including those of Commanding Officer (CO), executive officer and engineer officer, pilot and helicopter officer, the Ministry of Defence has prepared a proposal. It would be sent to the next meeting of the secretary committee on administrative improvement affairs soon.

The Prime Minister has already given her consent to create the posts, the sources said.

The proposal says the warship is capable of conducting naval operations on the sea and is also capable of sailing for a long time.  

The Finance Division and the Ministry of Public Administration have approved the posts for the BNS Somudra Avijan, a Cutter Class warship, according to the proposal.

Before being inducted into the Navy, it served the US Coast Guard as "USCGC Rush" for a long time.

The  proposal also says that the warship was handed over to the Bangladesh Navy as Excess Defence Article (EDA) Grant in 2015.

According to the sources, BNS Somudra Avijan visited the port of Manila in the Philippines from November 13 to 16, 2015, on her way to Bangladesh from the United States.

The ship took part in the 15th Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) and 2nd Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo (MNEK-2016), a multinational naval exercise arranged by the Indonesian Navy for ASEAN and ASEAN+ nations held at Padang, Indonesia. On her way back, she stopped at Port Klang, Malaysia, for a goodwill visit.

Somudra Avijan, with her sister ship, Somudra Joy, left Chattogram for India and Sri Lanka on a goodwill visit on September 18, 2016.