- Navy:
- Bangladesh Naval Forces, 1971-72
- Career:
The first Bangladeshi naval force was created on August 1971 during the war of independence against Pakistan. This naval force was organized with deserting sailors from the Pakistan Navy. On the request of the government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, India trained 400 naval commandos and frogmen of the Mutki Bahini (Liberation Army), and also converted some river vessels into gunboats. They were very effective in attacking port facilities and inland shipping. In five months of operations they sank or damaged 65 ships totalling 115,000 tons. Two of the gunboats (Padma, Palash) were mistakenly sunk by Indian planes at Mongla seaport (10 December 1971). The Mutki Bahini naval forces became the Bangladesh Navy in April 1972.
