On the 8th of October, 2025, the USS Fitzgerald docked at Chittagong to stay in Bangladeshi waters until the 10th of October, 2025. This vessel is a guided missile destroyer of the Arleigh Burke-class, which is heavily armed as an offensive attack vessel. It is armed with multiple high-caliber ballistic weapons systems and guided missile launchers.
Among its arsenal of guided missile systems are the BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, Mk 141 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, RIM-66 Standard MR anti-aircraft missiles, and a sizeable hold of torpedoes. Crucially, it is also capable of firing the RIM-161 SM-3 for targeting ballistic missiles in flight. The vessel is also capable of carrying one MH-60 Seahawk helicopter for search and rescue (SAR) missions. It was received in Bangladesh by the frigate BNS Abu Ubaidah and its personnel.
The vast majority of United States Navy combat ships that have entered Bangladeshi territorial waters or worked with Bangladesh Navy vessels in exercises have been littoral combat ships (LCS). Littoral combat ships are generally known to be defensive vessels that have to stick close to coastlines to be effective or be restricted to supporting ground actions from the shore. Examples of such include the USS Oakland, which visited in 2022 on a goodwill visit, the USS Tulsa and the USS Fort Worth, which participated in exercises with Bangladesh Navy vessels. [United States Pacific Command Website]
One notable exception includes the CARAT 2011 exercise that took place in Bangladeshi waters, where the guided missile destroyer USS Kidd and the frigate USS Ford both participated. Therefore, the arrival of a United States Navy vessel that is capable of deep sea sailing with offensive capabilities for anything other than humanitarian aid raises intrigue.
While ISPR officially claims that the vessel has arrived on a goodwill visit [ISPR Facebook Post], it seems apparent that the vessel is here to conduct exercises with the Bangladesh Navy. A news outlet that has been gaining attention recently for various reasons, Northeast News, first claimed that the USS Fitzgerald’s mission was to conduct exercises with the Bangladesh Navy. Its article cites a Chittagong Port Authority document where a notification was issued demarcating a specific area as a no-go zone.
The document is available on the Chittagong Port Authority’s website, issued on the 5th of October, 2025, and it did indeed establish a no-go zone. It further stated that the restrictions applied from the 8th to the 10th, coinciding with the visit timeline of the vessel. It is of particular note that the document mentioned that the restrictions were for a ‘special exercise’ of the Bangladesh Navy without any mention of any vessels belonging to other states. The coordinates defined by the document are presented in a table below:[Document]
| Point | LATITUDE (NORTH) | LONGITUDE (EAST) |
| A | 21°50.00′ N | 091°34.50′ E |
| B | 21°50.00′ N | 091°44.50′ E |
| C | 21°39.50′ N | 091°44.50′ E |
| D | 21°39.50′ N | 091°34.50′ E |
These coordinates correspond to a small, enclosed area of roughly 335 square kilometers off the coast of Kutubdia as displayed in the map below.
The reason for the discrepancy between the statement of the ISPR and the wording of the Chittagong Port Authority document is unclear as of the time of writing. 335 square kilometers is quite small in naval terms, but exercises such as naval interdiction, search and rescue, communication drills, and maneuvering exercises may still be held within such a small area. As for this specific case, it is purely conjecture.
As a guided missile destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald has been active as part of the United States Navy’s network of ships tasked with countering ballistic missile threats. For much of its service, the vessel was deployed in the Pacific and was one part of the Seventh Fleet itself. [Seventh Fleet Website]
Until 2017, it was based in the Japanese port town of Yokosuka, which hosts a base for the United States Navy. It was a frequent participant of naval exercises with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Republic of Korea Navy, which themselves were regarded as shows of force against North Korea and China. The Fitzgerald’s anti-ballistic missile component likely would have been used to counter any ballistic missile threats from North Korea targeting Japan.
In 2017, it was involved in a catastrophic collision with the ACX Crystal, a merchant ship registered in the Philippines and manned by a Filipino crew. The collision seriously damaged the ship’s starboard side, crushed the captain’s cabin, and caused the deaths of several sailors. Some of the vessel’s command elements faced punishment for errors leading to such a catastrophic incident. [BBC]
Since the collision, it took until 2020 for the vessel to return to service, and its homeport was set at San Diego, California. Afterwards, the vessel was part of Carrier Strike Group 3 led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, with its operating area being the Indo-Pacific as a whole. [United States Naval Institute News]
The Fitzgerald became the first warship in the US Navy to be outfitted with an artificial intelligence (AI) system in January 2025. By evaluating more than 10,000 sensor readings per second, the Enterprise Remote Monitoring Version 4 (ERM v4) system uses machine learning to keep an eye on ship systems such its mechanical, electrical, and hull components. [Yahoo News]
It also became one of the first US Navy ships to receive an augmented reality solution for routine ship maintenance, simply called the Augmented Reality Maintenance System (ARMS). It is capable of cutting maintenance delays and response times significantly. [United States Navy Website]
Therefore, this vessel could have been the first exposure to the crew of the BNS Abu Ubaidah and the Bangladesh Navy as a whole to such highly advanced systems. It is a definite step up from the offensively-armed Chinese, Russian, and Indian warships which the Bangladesh Navy had conducted exercises with and exchanged goodwill visits.
Carrier Strike Group 3 is currently in the area of operations of the Seventh Fleet and is commanded by it. Therefore, the symbolic value of a vessel visiting Chittagong that is part of the Seventh Fleet is hard to miss. That formation has gone down in the history of Bangladesh as the long arm of the Nixon-era United States attempting to show support to the very forces its independence struggle was fought against. While that history is not going to get in the way of necessary exchanges of know-how and relationship-building, the contradicting statements by the ISPR and the Chittagong Port Authority may sting observers.
Verification Note: Information sourced from and corroborated based on news reports, official military press releases, and articles. Sources are carefully weighed for authenticity prior to writing. Map data is ensured to be as accurate as possible based on data found in official document(s).
Fatin Anwar is an Associate Analyst at Bangladesh Defence Journal. He is responsible for in-depth research and analysis in combination with OSINT tools/techniques A gradaute of geography from the University of Dhaka, he had previously spent years working as a freelance writer specializing in research-heavy pieces related to geopolitics and military history.