The crew of the HMBS Nassau, one of two offshore patrol vessels in the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), completed its annual sea training readiness and range training in March 2026. The course consisted of weapons training — including a live-fire exercise — small boat handling, navigation, line handling, vessel maneuvering, watchkeeping, emergency response procedures, coordination during patrol operations and adherence to established maritime protocols. “The course provided intensive instructions in core maritime competencies essential to safeguarding The Bahamas’ territorial waters. It included both theoretical and practical components focused on seamanship, operational awareness, and safety procedures at sea,” according to an RBDF news release.
The training, which took place between March 11 and 18, demonstrates the RBDF’s commitment to operational readiness and fulfilling its mission to defend The Bahamas’ territorial waters and deter illegal maritime activities such as the smuggling of narcotics, firearms and migrants. “The Annual Sea Training Readiness exercise forms part of the RBDF’s efforts to ensure personnel remain proficient and mission-ready to conduct maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, disaster response, and territorial surveillance,” the release said.
The Nassau is a 60-meter vessel equipped with Browning M2 .50-caliber machine guns and a light automatic cannon. The ship, built in the United States at Moss Point Shipyard in Mississippi in 1999, was retrofitted in the Netherlands in 2016. A 2014 agreement between The Bahamas and the Dutch Damen Shipyards Group, known as the Sandy Bottom Project, called for the delivery of nine new RBDF vessels, disaster relief equipment, a bridge simulator for training and improvements to Bahamian ports, according to The Tribune, a Bahamian newspaper. The ship’s commander, who led the crew through the sea trials, is Sydney Whyms, the release stated.
The $232 million Sandy Bottom initiative also retrofitted the other Bahamas-class patrol vessel, the HMBS Bahamas, and provided infrastructure improvements to the Coral Harbour, Great Inagua and Gun Point maritime facilities, including dredging the harbors, building seawalls and widening channels.
The Nassau has been intercepting migrants crossing Bahamian territorial waters and participating in disaster relief operations. In February 2025, the ship took part in the U.N.-sponsored security mission to Haiti, which has plunged into unrest and gang violence since the assassination of its president in 2021.