ENSURING MARITIME SECURITY OF BANGLADESH: A

FOCUS ON THE ROLES OF BANGLADESH COAST GUARD

A Thesis Submitted to Centre for Higher Studies and Research, Bangladesh University of Professionals
for Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

By

A M M M Aurangzeb Chowdhury

Under Supervision of

Professor Dr. Rashed Uz Zaman

Department of International Relations
Dhaka University

June, 2020
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the process of completion of this thesis work, I have had guidance and assistance
from a number of individuals and institutions. I would like to put on record my deepest
appreciation and thanks to them.

I would like to begin with expressing my deep sense of gratitude to my learned thesis
supervisor Professor Dr. M Rashed Uz Zaman for his perceptive and encouraging scholarly
advice and most readily accessible, intelligent guidance and invaluable suggestions, which
helped me in understanding and analyzing the vagaries involved in this thesis work and the
troubles he endured for going through the texts with utmost patience in the midst of his very
busy schedule, without which this thesis would not have reached its completion. He
relentlessly placed the right queries before me and steered me navigate towards the right
direction and helped me meticulously trim and shape the thesis to take the final form.

I also express my deep sense of gratitude to Prof Dr M Abul Kashem Mozumder, Pro-
VC, BUP, Prof Dr Mokaddam Hossain, Prof Dr Syed Shahadat Hossain, Prof Dr A K Azad,
Prof Dr Mohammad Mozahidul Islam and Brigadier General Syed Mofazzel Mawla (Retd.) –
who provided me with invaluable suggestions and commented usefully on various aspects of
the present thesis. I benefited substantially and hence remain profoundly indebted to all the
scholars and authors whose works have been consulted or used in one way or other, in this
work.

Grateful acknowledgement is also made to the VC, Faculty members and the Centre
for Higher Studies & Research (CHSR) for their support, valued advice and unstinting
encouragement. I would like to pay special thanks to Commodore Mesbah Uddin Ahmed,
BN, and Commodore K M Azim, BN for helping me collect research materials and for other
manifold helps. Special thanks goes to Commodore M Mamunur Rashid, BN, who helped me
a great deal and played outsized roles in all stages of working to develop this thesis to take
the final shape, doing the tedious and time consuming jobs of distributing and collecting the
questionnaires and also turning my manuscripts into printed papers through doing the
mundane job of typing and also assisting me in fact-checking as well as editing the drafts. I
am really fortunate to have a colleague like him, who has innovative ideas and an
unquenchable thirst for knowledge with an equally passionate pursuit for higher education.

i
 This research has benefitted from hundreds of people and number of different sources.
I would like to thank gratefully those officers and officials, who took the pain of being
interviewed by me and often repeatedly and filled up the questionnaires as well. Many of
them, who requested anonymity, are serving officials from navy, coast guard and various
other ministries and department of the government, maritime institutions and public sectors.
These interviews and reply to questionnaires were extremely useful, educative and helped me
greatly to develop the thesis. I also used the opportunity during my many trips abroad on
official visit and discussed issues related to my research with Commandants and senior
officials of different coast guards, navy and maritime institutions on various occasions. They
provided me with very insightful, perceptive and knowledgeable feedbacks and shared their
ideas and experiences, which greatly contributed and helped me to enrich my thesis work. I
am indeed thankful to all of them for their contribution and support. I also express my
profound indebtedness to Rear Admiral M Khurshed Alam (Retd), Secretary Maritime
Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his thoughtful feedback.

I wouldn’t do justice, if I don’t mention the contribution of my secretarial staff,

especially Petty Officer Mamun, Iftiakh, ME I and Ashraful, ME I who relentlessly did the
copying job whenever I needed irrespective of the time of the day. I am also thankful to the
concerned staffs of BIISS and BUP, who helped me in publishing my articles in their journal.

Finally, it was my wife and children, who constantly encouraged me and were my
source of energy and strength and also shielded me from the mundane routine and took on
greater share of our common burden with cheerful readiness to suffer its consequences that
are not easily compensated. My sincere thanks, gratitude and love for all of them.

ii
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the research work titled “Ensuring Maritime Security of Bangladesh: A
Focus on the Roles of Bangladesh Coast Guard” has been carried out under the Centre for
Higher Studies and Research, Bangladesh University of Professionals in fulfilment of the
requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. I have composed this thesis based on
original research findings acquired by me along with references from published literature.
This has not been submitted in part or full to any other institution to any other degree. I also
certify that there is no plagiarized content in this thesis.

Date : June 2020 A M M M Aurangzeb Chowdhury

Roll No.: P180056.
Registration No.: 100401180056.
Session: 2017-18.
Centre for Higher Studies and Research
Bangladesh University of Professionals

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 CERTIFICATE OF THE SUPERVISOR

This is to certify that Admiral A M M M Aurangzeb Chowdhury, NBP, OSP, BCGM,

PCGM, BCGMS, ndc, psc carried out his PhD study under my guidelines and supervision,
and hence prepared the thesis titled “Ensuring Maritime Security of Bangladesh: A Focus on
the Roles of Bangladesh Coast Guard.” So far as I am aware, the researcher duly
acknowledged the other researchers’ materials and sources used in this work. Further, the
thesis was not submitted to any other universities or institutions for any other degree or
diploma.

It is thus recommended that the thesis be submitted to the Centre for Higher Studies and
Research, Bangladesh University of Professionals, in fulfilment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. I also certify that there is no plagiarized
content in this thesis.

Date : June 2020 (Signature of the Supervisor)

Professor Dr. Rashed Uz Zaman

Department of International Relations
Dhaka University

iv
 Abstract

Humankinds’ idea of ‘sea use’ ushered the logic of ‘competition at sea.’ With its land
resources depleting, Bangladesh must look for exploration and exploitation of maritime
resources for the well-being of her population. Hence, ensuring maritime security has become
sine quo non for the nation, necessitating Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG) as the country’s
maritime security instrument to perform its roles effectively and efficiently. The delimitation
of maritime boundary and the consequent upsurge in sea-awareness has called for optimum
utilization of this force. For that the force must identify and eliminate the factors limiting its
capabilities to perform the desired roles, while its stakeholders need to facilitate such efforts.
Most importantly, its chronic scarcity of manpower is creating skill gap and other associated
HRM problems. Its overlapping jurisdiction with other forces and communication gap with
its decision-making structure are hampering its progress. Besides, critical shortages of land,
infrastructure, force-specific resources, logistics, repair and maintenance facilities are
impeding it from ensuring the maritime security of Bangladesh appropriately. For ‘blue
economy’ to thrive, BCG’s critical issues must be resolved earliest. To that end, induction of
own manpower appears to be as the panacea for facilitating to resolve all other issues.
Besides, eliminating overlapping jurisdictions, easing barriers of communication with the
ministries, building required infrastructure, procuring force-specific resources through
perspective planning and creating logistics, repair and maintenance facilities on a priority
basis are other solutions in the process. This qualitative research, backed by some
quantitative findings and analysis, has found that these aforementioned steps would enable
BCG to perform its desired roles more effectively and efficiently to ensure optimum level of
maritime security by unlocking hidden potentials of the organisation. This, in turn, will
accelerate the nation’s journey towards a ‘hunger-free’ and ‘poverty-free’ maritime
Bangladesh by 2041.

Key Words: Coast Guard, Maritime Strategy, Non-traditional Security, Manpower

Constraint, Overlapping Responsibility, Decision-making Structure, Resource Constraints,
Absent Dialogue.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement i-ii
Declaration iii
Certificate of the Supervisor iv
Abstract and Key Words v
Table of Contents vi-x
List of Tables xi
List of Figures xii
List of Charts xiii
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations xiv-xvii

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the Problem 1
1.2 Problem Statement 3
1.3 Rationale of the Study 4
1.4 Research Questions 6
1.5 Research Objectives 7
1.6 Literature Review 7
1.7 Conceptual Framework 8
1.8 Research Design through Chapterisation 10
1.9 Research Methodology 11
1.10 Expected Results and Significance of the Study 13
1.11 Limitations of the Study 13
1.12 Concluding Remarks 14

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction 16
2.2 Literature on Maritime Defence 16
2.3 Literature on Maritime Strategy and Doctrine 22
2.4 Literature on Coast Guards 37
2.5 Literature on Coast Guard in Bangladesh 40
2.6 Research Gap 42

Chapter 3: Conceptual Framework

3.1 Preamble 44
3.2 Importance of Sea in Human Life 45
3.3 The Concept of Sea Power 46
3.4 The Concept of Maritime Strategy 48
3.5 Ways to Use the Sea Power 50
3.5.1 Command of the Sea 50
3.5.2 Sea Control 51

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 3.5.3 Ways of Achieving and Using ‘Command of 53
the Sea’ or ‘Sea Control’
3.5.4 Ways of Achieving ‘Command of the Sea’ 53
3.5.5 Ways of Utilizing ‘Command of the Sea’- 55
Preventive or Purposive Use of the Sea
3.5.6 How Nations Can Use the Elements (Bases, 57
Shipping, Fighting Instruments) of Sea Power
3.6 Non-Traditional Security Threats and the Needs of Coast 58
Guards
3.6.1 Human Trafficking/Illegal Migration 59
3.6.2 Drug Trafficking 60
3.6.3 Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) 60
Fishing
3.6.4 Marine Pollution 61
3.6.5 Natural Disaster and Climate Change 61
3.6.6 Terrorism and Gun-running 62
3.6.7 Assessment of the Non-Traditional Threats 62
3.7 Navy or Coast Guard - Why Two Forces? 63
3.8 Maritime Strategy of Bangladesh 65
3.9 Evolution of Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG) 68
3.10 Rise in Bangladesh’s Maritime Stake 69
3.11 ‘Blue Economy’ and Impetus on Realising its Benefits 71
3.12 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 72
3.13 Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 74
3.14 Search and Rescue (SAR) 75
3.15 Marine Pollution Response - IMO Member State Audit
and National Oil Spill and Chemical Contingency Plan 77
(NOSCOP)
3.16 Concluding Remarks – Conceptual Framework Depicted 78

Chapter 4: Methodology

4.1 Introduction 79
4.2 Secondary Research - Subjective Analysis 79
4.3 Content Analysis 80
4.4 Comparisons 80
4.5 Case Studies 80
4.6 Primary Research - Quantitative Analysis 81
4.7 Quantitative Research Design 81
4.7.1 Sample. 81
4.7.2 Instruments. 83
4.7.3 Procedure 83
4.8 Concluding Remarks 83

Chapter 5: The Manpower Problem of Bangladesh Coast Guard – A Unique Case

5.1 Introduction 84
5.2 BCGs Overall Standing as a Force 85
5.3 Coast Guard’s Human Resource System and Its Lacunae 93
5.4 Problems being Faced 93

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 5.5 Uncertainty 95
5.6 Lack of Continuity 95
5.7 Lack of Belongingness 97
5.8 Lack of Retention of Specialised Knowledge 98
5.9 Minding Own Business First – The Hidden Factor 100
5.10 Summary 102
5.11 Examples from Across the Globe 102
5.11.1 The US Coast Guard (USCG) 102
5.11.2 The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) 103
5.11.3 The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) 104
5.12 In Search of Solutions 104
5.13 The Obvious Gap in the Law 106
5.14 The Need of an Overall Plan 109
5.15 BCG’s Report and Standing 109
5.16 Is it Overstepping in the Navy’s Domain? 114
5.17 What Changes are Expected? 114
5.18 Concluding Remarks 115

Chapter 6: Bangladesh Coast Guard - Needs of Streamlining Overlapping Functions and

Bringing Reform in Decision-Making Structure

6.1 Introduction 117

6.2 BCG’s Area of Responsibility and Convergence with 118
Other Forces
6.2.1 BCG’s Area of Responsibility (AOR) 118
6.2.2 History of River Police 119
6.2.3 Overlaps with BCG 121
6.3 Clear Demarcation, Incidental Magistracy and Maritime 123
Assistance Services
6.4 Needs for Bringing Reform in Decision-Making Structure 126
6.4.1 Preamble 126
6.4.2 BCG’s Relation with MoHA and Other 126
Relevant Ministries
6.5 Scopes Where Decision-Making Can be Revamped 129
6.5.1 Common and Recurring Decisions 130
6.5.2 Decisions with Lasting Effects 130
6.5.3 Decisions Regarding Resource-Sharing and 131
Optimisation
6.6 Experience of Other Coast Guards 131
6.6.1 Experience of the US Coast Guard (USCG) 131
6.6.2 The Indian Coast Guard (ICG)’s Experience 134
6.6.3 The Japan Coast Guard (JCG)’s Experience 134
6.7 Results of Questionnaire Survey 135
6.8 Towards Building a More Effective Decision-Making 136
Structure
6.8.1 Ministry-BCG Overlapping Placements 136
6.8.2 BCG Orientation for Ministry Officers 137
6.8.3 Sensitising MoPA for Placement of BCS 137
Officers
6.8.4 Taking Decision-Makers On-board 138

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 6.8.5 Forming All-ministry Committee for TO&E 138
6.8.6 Building Rapport with Decision-Makers from 139
the Beginning
6.9 Concluding Remarks 139

Chapter 7: Riding on Big Waves: Resource Constraints, Organisational Challenges and

Bangladesh Coast Guard

7.1 Introduction 141

7.2 BCG’s Needs of Land and Infrastructure 143
7.3 State of Land and Infrastructure 144
7.4 Problems Faced Due to Deficient Infrastructure 145
7.4.1 Security Problem 147
7.4.2 Psychological Impact 148
7.5 BCG’s Efforts to Date 149
7.6 Summary 149
7.7 State of Force-specific Resources 150
7.8 Areas of Jurisdiction (AOJ) 150
7.9 Analysis of Tasks and Resource Requirements 152
7.9.1 Search and Rescue 152
7.9.2 Salvage 153
7.9.3 Marine Pollution Prevention and Response 154
7.9.4 Protection of Bio-diversity and Endangered 155
Species
7.10 Need versus State 155
7.11 State of Logistics and Maintenance Infrastructure 157
7.11.1 State of BCG’s Logistics Facilities 158
7.11.2 State of Repair and Maintenance Facilities 160
7.12 The Study of other Coast Guards 162
7.12.1 The US Coast Guard (USCG) 162
7.12.2 The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) 163
7.13 Solutions/Options for Bangladesh Coast Guard 164
7.14 Concluding Remarks 165

Chapter 8: Findings and Discussions

8.1 Preamble 168

8.2 BCG’s Manpower Problem 168
8.3 Overlapping Responsibilities and Need for Bringing 171
Reform in Decision-Making Structure
8.4 Resource Constraints and Organisational Challenges 173
8.5 Attainment of Research Objectives 175
8.6 Implications of the Study 176
8.7 Scope for Further Study 177
8.8 Concluding Remarks 178

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Chapter 9: Conclusions and Recommendations

9.1 Conclusions 179

9.2 Recommendations 184

Bibliography

- Notes 187
- References 188

Appendice
s

Annex A The Need for Minimum 3,500 Ton Offshore Patrol 199
Vessels
Annex B Roadmap for Recruiting Own Para-Military Manpower in 203
Bangladesh Coast Guard
Annex C Sanitisation of Chattogram Port by Coast Guard and 222
Reduction of Insurance Cost
Annex D Case Study of Indian Coast Guard’s Recruitment 226
Annex E Coast Guard - the Requirement of Giving Power to Inflict 229
Instant Penalty on Offenders
Annex F The Absent Dialogue – the Non-existence of Essential 232
Dialogues between Military and Civilian Bureaucrats in a
Democracy – a Case Study of India
Annex G Nomination for Shadhinata Padak 2020 Bangladesh 237
Coast Guard
Annex H 14th Heads of Asian Coast Guard Agencies Meeting 250
(HACGAM)
Annex I Questionnaire for Survey 254
Annex J Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 and Role of BCG 272
Annex K Appreciation Letter from Indian Coast Guard (ICG) 276
Annex L BCG’s Area of Responsibility in the Coastal and Riverine 277
Areas
Annex M BCG’s Bases, Stations and Outposts 278

Bio-data 279

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 LIST OF TABLES

Serial Content Page No

Table 1 Chapters in the Research Paper 10

Table 2 Import Export Statistics of Chattogram Port 88

Table 3 Achievements of BCG through 1995-2019 90

Table 4 BCG’s Manpower State 94

Table 5 Reduction in Stages from Manpower Proposed by BN 101

Table 6 Ranks of Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Coast Guard 113

Table 7 Responses on AOR of BCG and River Police 122

Table 8 State of Infrastructure in BCG’s Land Areas 144

Table 9 BCG’s Asset Requirement Versus Current State 156

Table 10 US Coast Guard New Acquisition Details 200

Table 11 US Coast Guard Ships’ Length and Deployment Area 201

Table 12 OPVs of Different Countries 201

Table 13 Marine Cargo Insured Amounts of Bangladeshi Insurance 223

Companies (Average During 2010-2017)
Table 14 Marine Cargo Insurance Premiums of Bangladeshi Insurance 224
Companies (Average During 2010-2017)
Table 15 Chronology of Correspondence – BCG’s Proposal for 236
Manpower of Dockyard
Table 16 List of Heads of Organisations who Participated in HACGAM 252

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Serial Contents Page No

Figure 1 Spectrum of Roles of Navies and Coast Guards 2

Figure 2 Conceptual Framework of the Research 9

Figure 3 Sources and Elements of Sea Power 48

Figure 4 Admiral Stansfield Turner’s Sea Control Thermometer 52

Figure 5 Geoffrey Till’s Ways of Winning and Using ‘Command of the 53

Sea’
Figure 6 The ‘Use of the Sea’ Triangle by Eric Grove 58

Figure 7 Ken Booth’s Functional Analysis of Navies and Coast Guards 63

(Booth, 1979)
Figure 8 Bangladesh’s Maritime Power 67

Figure 9 Search and Rescue Responsibility Area of Bangladesh 76

Figure 10 Conceptual Framework of the Research 78

Figure 11 National Fisheries Award- 2018 86

Figure 12 Organisation Structure of MoHA 127

Figure 13 Organisation Structure of US Department of Homeland Security 133

Figure 14 BCG Outpost Rangabali Established in an Abandoned Union 145

Parishad Building
Figure 15 Map of Bangladesh’s Search and Rescue Area and EEZ Together 151

Figure 16 Map of Bangladesh’s Search and Rescue Area (IMO, 2019) 152

Figure 17 US Coast Guard Headquarters Organogram 158

Figure 18 The Nucleus Team of 10 Men Who Set up the Indian Coast Guard 227
on 1st February 1977
Figure 19 US Coast Guard Penalty Imposing Organisation Structure 230

Figure 20 The Delegation Members of Participating States and Organisation 251

with the Honourable Prime Minister
Figure 21 The Postage Stamp Unveiled by the Honourable Prime Minister 251

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Figure 22 BCG’s Area of Responsibility in the Coastal and Riverine Areas 277

Figure 23 BCG’s Bases, Stations and Outposts 278

LIST OF CHARTS

Serial Content Page No

Chart 1 Trend of Insurance Cost of Chattogram Port 87

Chart 2 Comparison of Achievement of Forces 89

Chart 3 Degree of Security Provided by BCG Against Non-Traditional 92

Maritime Threats
Chart 4 Agreement on BCG Personnel’s Lack of Continuity Creating 97
Constant Vacuum in Operational Tasks
Chart 5 Agreement of BCG Personnel’s Lack of Belongingness 98

Chart 6 Agreement that BCG is ‘Stuck to the Basics’ Due to Lack of 100
Own Manpower
Chart 7 Agreement of Importance of Recruiting Own Manpower of 105
BCG

Chart 8 Survey Results on Bridging Ministry – BCG Gap 136

Chart 9 Survey Result on BCG’s Logistics, Repair and Maintenance 146

Facilities
Chart 10 Respondents’ Opinion on BCG’s Future Actions 147

Chart 11 Trend of Insurance Cost in Chattogram Port 225

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 LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

ACAD Advanced Course on Administration and Development

Addl Secy Additional Secretary
ADG Additional/ Assistant Director General
Admin Administration
AFD Armed Forces Division
AMC Army Medical Corps
AOJ Area of Jurisdiction
AOR Area of Responsibility
ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations
Asstt Assistant
BA Bangladesh Army
BAF Bangladesh Air Force
BCG Bangladesh Coast Guard; often used in the text as the Coast Guard or
Coast Guard
BCGHQ Bangladesh Coast Guard Headquarters
BCGM Bangladesh Coast Guard Medal
BCGMS Bangladesh Coast Guard Medal Sheba (BCG Medal Service)
BCS Bangladesh Civil Service
BGB Border Guard Bangladesh
BIISS Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies
BIWTA Bangladesh Internal Water Transport Authority
BIWTC Bangladesh Internal Water Transport Corporation
BN Bangladesh Navy
BoB Bay of Bengal
BPATC Bangladesh Public Administration Training Academy
BPC Bangladesh Planning Commission, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation
BSC Bangladesh Shipping Corporation
BUP Bangladesh University of Professionals
C3 Command, Control and Communication
CAG Comptroller and Auditor General
CCMC Coastal Crisis Management Centre
CDDL Chattogram Dry Dock Limited
CHSR Centre for Higher Studies and Research
COMBAN Commander Bangladesh Navy Fleet
COMCHIT Commander Chittagong Naval Area
COMFLOT West Commander Flotilla West
CPV Coastal Patrol Vessel
CS Continental Shelf
CSS Coastal Surveillance System
DC Deputy Commissioner
DCMS Deputy Commandant Mission Support

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DCMS Deputy Commandant Mission Support
DCO Deputy Commandant Operations
DCO Deputy Commandant Operations
DEW Dockyard and Engineering Works Limited, Narayanganj
DG Director General
DHS Department of Homeland Security
DoD Department of Defence, USA
DoE Department of Environment
DOHS Defence Officers Housing Society
DPP Development Project Proposal
EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone
ESCAP Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
FDG Focused Group Discussion
FF Fire-fighting
FPB Fast Patrol Boat
FRC Fast Response Cutter
ft Foot, feet.
GAO Government Audit Office (India)
GoB Government of Bangladesh
HACGAM Heads of Asian Coast Guard Agencies Meeting
HAL Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
HEC High Endurance Cutter
HPB Harbour Patrol Boat
HPM Honourable Prime Minister
HRM Human Resource Management
ICG Indian Coast Guard
ICS Indian Civil Service
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IDS Integrated Defence Staff
IMB International Maritime Bureau
IMO International Maritime Organisation
IN Indian Navy
IOM International Organisation For Migration
IONS Indian Ocean Naval Symposium
IOR Indian Ocean Region
IPV Inshore Patrol Vessel
ISSB Inter Services Selection Board
ITLOS International Tribunal for Law of the Sea
IUU Illegal, Unidentified and Unregulated
JCG Japan Coast Guard
JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency
Jt Joint
KPI Key Point Installation
KRC Kargil Review Committee
KSY Khulna Shipyard Limited
LIA Lead Intelligence Agency
LNG Liquefied Natural Gas
MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
MDG Millennium Development Goals

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ME Mechanics Engineering
MEC Medium Endurance Cutter
MLIT Ministry of Land Transport
MLIT Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
MMCFD Million Cubic Feet per Day
MMEA Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency
MoD Ministry of Defence
MoF Ministry of Finance
MoFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs
MoHA Ministry of Home Affairs
MoLJPA Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
MoPA Ministry of Public Administration
MoPEMR Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources
MoS Ministry of Shipping
MOTR Maritime Operational Threat Response
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
MP Member of Parliament
MRCC Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre
MSDF Maritime Self Defence Force
MT Motor Tanker
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
NBCD Nuclear Biological Chemical Defence Including Fire-fighting and
Damage Control
NBP Nou Bahini Podok (Bangladesh Navy Medal)
NCS Naval Control of Shipping
NCSA National Committee on Security Affairs
NDC National Defence College
NMSARCA National Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Authority
NOSCOP National Oil Spill and Chemical Contingency Plan
NSC National Security Council
NTMC National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre
O&M Organisation and Management
OPC Offshore Patrol Cutter
OPV Offshore Patrol Vessel
OSCC Offshore Security Coordination Committee
OSP Oshamanno Sheba Podok (Outstanding Service Medal)
PBL Performance Based Logistics
PCGM President Coast Guard Medal
PME Planned Maintenance of Equipment
PWD Public Works Department
RAB Rapid Action Battalion
ReCAAP Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed
Robbery against Ships in Asia
ReCAAP ISC ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre
Retd Retired
ROR Rules of the Road
SAR Search and Rescue
SDG Sustainable Development Goals

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SLOC Sea Lines of Communication
SONAR Sound Navigation and Ranging
Squadron A group of ships or aircraft operating or meant to operate together
Sr Asstt Senior Assistant
SRR Search and Rescue Responsibility Area
TO&E Table of Organisation and Equipment
TS Territorial Sea
UK United Kingdom
UNCLOS United Nations Conventions on Law of the Sea
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
UNHCR United Nations High Commission for Refugees
US United States
USCG United States Coast Guard
USS United States Ship
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republic
VC Vice Chancellor
VDP Village Defence Party
WCO World Customs Organisation
WMD Weapon of Mass Destruction

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