RSS Endeavour (210) of the Republic Singapore Navy (RSN) conducted a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the Royal Brunei Navy’s (RBN) KDB Daruttaqwa on Saturday as she transitted through the Sultanate’s waters while hosting the Midshipmen Sea Training Deployment (MSTD). The RBN remains committed to maintaining close ties with the RSN and exploring avenues to build capacity towards the goal of cooperation at sea. All planning and coordination meetings for the PASSEX was conducted virtually while its execution was conducted without physical interaction between the two ships in line with COVID-19 guidelines from the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Health.
During the PASSEX, both ships conducted a series of communications and manoeuvring exercises as a sign of continued longstanding friendship between the RBN and the RSN. This was followed by a farewell pass, which included ‘piping the side and lining the deck’ to bid farewell and show gratitude for the friendship to conclude the ceremony. The PASSEX provided an opportunity for all crew and officers from both navies to enhance their drills while performing the serials. Both captains expressed gratitude and fulfilment with the exercises and look forward to more opportunities to strengthen naval ties in the future.
Endeavour (210) is the fourth ship of the Endurance-class landing platform dock of the Republic of Singapore Navy. She was laid down in 1998 and launched on 12 February 2000. Commissioned on 7 April 2001 with the hull number 210. Two additional SAF task groups have been deployed to the Gulf of Aden, RSS Endurance from June to October 2010 and Endeavour from August 2011. The Endurance-class tank landing ships (LST) are the largest class of ships in the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN). They were designed and built by Singapore Technologies (ST) Marine to replace the old County-class tank landing ships. The four ships form the Third Flotilla of the RSN.
KDB Daruttaqwa (09) is the fourth and last ship of the Darussalam-class offshore patrol vessels. The vessel is in active service in the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN). KDB Daruttaqwa was built by Lürssen Werft company in Germany around the late 2000s. She is part of the second batch delivered from Germany to Brunei. KDB Daruttaqwa commissioned on 8 September 2014 at Muara Naval Base. All four sister ships work in the offshore patrol vessel role. Brunei ordered the Darussalam class from Lürssen, the same company that Brunei contracted to sell the Nakhoda Ragam-class corvettes, and the first two vessels were delivered in January 2011. The second batch of two ships were delivered by 2014.
