Thai Navy denies plan to sink ageing battleship

[webfact]

Navy denies plan to sink ageing battleship

By The Nation

 

Photo credit : samutprakanfc.com

 

The Royal Thai Navy has denied reports that it is planning to sink a battleship that had joined the naval parade marking the royal coronation of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
 

However, it has not ruled out the possibility of the battleship, Pho Sam Ton, finally being submerged. 

 

“We have already handed it over to the Chanthaburi Provincial Administration, which is now in the process of organising a public hearing on what to do with this battleship,” Navy chief of staff Admiral Pichet Tanaset said on Friday.

 

Since 2012, it has been decommissioned and placed at the waterfront of the Ban Samet Ngam shipyard.

 

“It has been developed as a history museum,” Pichet said. 

 

He said the Navy had never given any thought to sinking the Pho Sam Ton because it was very valuable. 

 

“It has value in many aspects. It would be unfortunate to sink such a ship,” he said. 

 

The ship is currently in a dilapidated state due to the lack of a budget for maintenance.

 

“There’s no conclusion on the fate of Pho Sam Ton yet,” Pichet said. “But we think it would be unfortunate to waste such a ship.”

 

Pichet said the process of sinking a ship is not easy. Permissions are required and they have to check if the place chosen for sinking a ship would overlap communication cable routes.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30345856

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-05-21

[cornishcarlos]

Clean any potential pollutants and then tow it to over to Samui and sink it.

Create a good artificial reef with the top in about 5m of water. Not sure how far off Samui the water would be deep enough !!

That's what I think they should do with it ?

[sirineou]

from the looks of it does not look like it will need any help

[operator]

About as far removed from a Battleship as you can get. Ex HMS Minstrel a 1097 ton "minesweeper" built in Canada.

Bought by the Royal Thai Navy in 1947. 

[Get Real]

No, by all means, do not sink this ship! It will manage do do that all be itself. Do like with everything else. Give it time to sink in!

[Darcula]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

“But we think it would be unfortunate to waste such a ship.”

 

It could be still useful when your citizens start protesting on the high seas.

 

[colinneil]

Why think about sinking it?

A quick coat of paint it will be as good as new.

[smedly]

They should have waited a few minutes before taking that Photo, the guy currently living there is taking a piss out the window

[dinsdale]

Ageing might not be the best adjective. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The ship is currently in a dilapidated state due to the lack of a budget for maintenance.

Could apply that to almost any aspect of publicly owned property in LOS. A sad state of affairs.

 

[kannot]

oh no , they could learn a thing or two here!!

 

[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

"Navy denies plan to sink ageing battleship"

So they're going sink it within the next month then?

Anything the junta say, just believe the opposite. It's worked well so far.

 

[Happyman58]

What about the pride of the Thai Navy. The aircraft carrier. It does nothing either I believe. They call the ship in the photo a valuable asset I call it a piece of rusting junk. Just sink the damn thing I am sure the fish would love getting a new home

[RichardColeman]

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

“There’s no conclusion on the fate of Pho Sam Ton yet,” Pichet said. “But we think it would be unfortunate to waste such a ship.”

Opposition sight seeing trip to mend bonds up soon

[tompelli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

“It has been developed as a history museum,” Pichet said. 

Is the admiral talking about the same ship as in the photo......really?

[Artisi]

What a fine piece of floating junk, tow it to sea and scuttle her along with the rest of the useless array of toys boats LOS own. But then of course this could create ongoing problems like the new yet to arrive submarines running into such obvious dangers. 

[Catoni]

It is not, and never was a battleship,  not even a cruiser or destroyer ..... Heck... it ain't even the size of a frigate...

   HTMS Phosamtom (ex HMS Minstrel) was built in Canada in 1944 by Redfern Construction Co. of Canada for World War II.  She was a small off shore mine sweeper vessel with a displacement of only 1,350 ton (maximum). 

    Like calling a very small single prop Piper Cub... a Jumbo Jet. 

[bluesofa]

It's just come to me!

Aware that Maya Bay is closed, the navy is doing its bit to help tourism: Sink a battleship week!

There will be thousands attracted to this unique antique event. Boat tours around the wreck (the battleship, not the junta).

 

[Artisi]

Just now, Catoni said:

It is not, and never was a battleship,  not even a cruiser or destroyer ..... Heck... it ain't even the size of a frigate...

   HTMS Phosamtom (ex HMS Minstrel) was built in Canada in 1944 by Redfern Construction Co. of Canada for World War II.  She was a small off shore mine sweeper vessel with a displacement of only 1,350 ton (maximum). 

    Like calling a very small single prop Piper Cub... a Jumbo Jet. 

Please don't deflate the navy's ego, face - remember face. 

[Sydebolle]

Get Somchai to tow it to a bone yard (or is she there already) to be dismantled and sold off as scrap metal. 

The full story of the "battleship" can be read up here: https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3836.html

Explains the urgent need for three sub-marines; how otherwise would you know the difference between sinking and sub-merging ? 

[Oziex1]

We are not going to sink it, but it probably will end up submerged later on. 

 

OK

[wotsdermatter]

While in and after leaving, some retired ships were supposedly sold and made into razor blades.  Do not know if that was actually true but why could this vessel not be sold for scrap and turned into something useful?  Just curious.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, Oziex1 said:

We are not going to sink it, but it probably will end up submerged later on.

 

Yeah, I suppose it's something to go down on.

 

[cornishcarlos]

It's not the only ageing thing that needs sinking...

One of them has enough gold on his wrist to take him straight to the bottom !!!

[bluesofa]

2 minutes ago, wotsdermatter said:

While in and after leaving, some retired ships were supposedly sold and made into razor blades.  Do not know if that was actually true but why could this vessel not be sold for scrap and turned into something useful?  Just curious.

That's amazing. I wonder how many razor blades you could get out of one battleship?

Just don't say "both of them in this case".

 

[wotsdermatter]

While in and after leaving the Royal Navy, some retired ships were supposedly sold and made into razor blades.  Do not know if that was actually true but why could this vessel not be sold for scrap and turned into something useful?  Just curious.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, cornishcarlos said:

It's not the only ageing thing that needs sinking...

One of them has enough gold on his wrist to take him straight to the bottom !!!

 

[Dustdevil]

3 hours ago, operator said:

About as far removed from a Battleship as you can get. Ex HMS Minstrel a 1097 ton "minesweeper" built in Canada.

Bought by the Royal Thai Navy in 1947. 

Another example of some writers being careless with nouns related to ships and planes. Some of them conflate battleships with warships. Naturally, even a minesweep is a warship. I've seen silly <deleted> on cable news refer to a 737 as a "jumbo jet."

[bluesofa]

3 hours ago, operator said:

About as far removed from a Battleship as you can get. Ex HMS Minstrel a 1097 ton "minesweeper" built in Canada.

Bought by the Royal Thai Navy in 1947. 

1947! So that's why Thailand has purchased coal from the US - to keep this steamship going.

 

[Dustdevil]

Just now, bluesofa said:

1947! So that's why Thailand has purchased coal from the US - to keep this steamship going.

 

And here I thought it was to make West Virginia great again.