The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) has launched a fleet restoration initiative, shipping three RBDF patrol boats to a shipyard in the Netherlands for extensive refurbishment. The operation to load the vessels onto the MV Yacht Servant, a massive, semisubmersible heavy-lift ship that is transporting them to the Netherlands, occurred in December 2025.
The HMBS Arthur Dion Hanna, HMBS Rolly Gray and HMBS Cascarilla will undergo extensive work at Damen Shipyards to extend their operational life, improve reliability and restore them to “optimal service condition” after years of deferred maintenance. The restoration also provides an important training opportunity for RBDF mechanics, technicians and electricians, who will travel to the Netherlands to observe the maintenance process and gain expertise at Damen Shipyards. RBDF officials say the first vessel is expected to return to The Bahamas within the next four to six months, and the other two should be back within a year.
The project represents a significant investment as part of a broader $50 million overhaul of the RBDF fleet. “To bring this fleet back to optimum operability, we will need to spend in excess of $50 million over the next five to 10 years. … It’s the only way that we will accomplish our mandate,” Commodore Floyd Moxey, the RBDF commander, said, according to the Our News website.
Moxey said fleet readiness and reliability are essential to safeguard Bahamian waters and ensure an effective RBDF response to national and regional threats. He also noted that the restoration represents an investment in the sustainability of RBDF maritime operations.
In addition to Moxey, Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe, Minister of Education Glenys Hanna-Martin and Parliament member Jamal Strachan attended the operation to load the three RBDF vessels onto the MV Yacht Servant. The transport ship uses a ballast system that lets its deck submerge, allowing vessels to float on and off easily.
Munroe said the repairs were long overdue and the patrol boats had operated well beyond manufacturer expectations, underscoring the intense operational demands placed on RBDF personnel and vessels. “You have to maintain them properly. You have to dry dock them. … They’ve not been necessarily run as they ought to be to match manufacturer specs, and we’re determined to correct that,” Munroe said, according to Our News.
All three of the patrol boats have been out of service for some time, the ZNS Bahamas news website reported. The Arthur Dion Hanna, which was commissioned in June 2014, has been out of service since 2017; the Rolly Gray, commissioned in May 2015, has been grounded since October 2023; and the Cascarilla, commissioned in March 2016, has been out since the pandemic, ZNS Bahamas said.