Belgian Frigate, Minehunter Handed Over To Bulgaria / Official Handover Of frigate F910 Wielingen And Minehunter M922 Myositis To Bulgaria

Belgian Frigate, Minehunter Handed Over To Bulgaria / Official Handover Of frigate F910 Wielingen And Minehunter M922 Myositis To Bulgaria

(NSI News Source Info) February 11, 2009: On Monday Feb. 9, F910 Wielingen and M922 Myositis were officially handed over to Bulgaria, in a ceremony attended by various authorities of both countries.

The Belgian government decided on 22 December 1970 to order four new frigates, which would be built by the Belgian shipyards. These ships would replace the old escortships of the Algerine class. These were put out of service in 1969. The studies on this project already began in 1964 with the advice of the Dutch Navy and continued in 1971 in cooperation with the two Belgian shipyards, Boelwerf (Temse) and Cockerill (Hoboken - Antwerp). The construction of the ships began in 1974. The four ships, *F910 Wielingen, F911 Westdiep, F912 Wandelaar and F913 Westhinder, were commissioned in the following years.

The Bulgarian navy has christened the ships Verni and Tsibar respectively. Wielingen is, after F912 Wandelaar and F911 Westdiep, the third frigate, and Myosotis the first minehunter, to be handed over to the Bulgarian navy.

Disposal of the Wielingen also marks the decommissioning of the final Wielingen-class frigate by the Belgian navy. These ships were named for well-known sand banks along the Belgian coast. They were designed and built by Belgian shipyards.

Myosotis is the eighth ship of the Flower class, and in recent years was used to transport ammunition. The two ships will sail to Bulgaria on Feb. 10, at about 10 a.m.