Thai Navy denies plan to sink ageing battleship

[geriatrickid]

5 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

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 ?

I don't think the Thais have any clue as to the safe removal and disposal of asbestos, PCBs and other hazardous waste.

 

[Misterwhisper]

Tow it out to Koh Chang and scuttle it off the island's east coast. Then it can join almost the entire Thai fleet that's been lying there on the bottom since 1941 courtesy of a handful of French warships sent over from Indochina. To this day, the event is touted in Thai history books as a "great victory"; a rather typical OTT description, just like classifying this 1,000-ton nutshell of a vessel a "battleship".  

[dorchester]

will they sink it by torpedo?

 

[geriatrickid]

1 hour ago, 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. 

You sparked my interest.  Quite an interesting history

 

HMS Minstrel (J 445)

Minesweeper of the Algerine class

Navy-The Royal Navy

Type-Minesweeper

Class-Algerine 

Pennant-J 445 

ModReciprocating engined 

Built byRedfern Construction Ltd. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) 

Ordered-15 Mar 1943 

Laid down-27 Jun 1944 

Launched-5 Oct 1944 

Commissioned-7 Jun 1945 

End service-Feb 1947 

History- In July 1945 she joined the 10th MSF, Nore Command Nov 1945 10th MSF, East Indies Jan 1946 11th MSF Feb 1946 7th MSF June 1946 11th MSF Paid off in Feb 1947 to Category B reserve at Singapore. She was bought by the Royal Thai Navy in April 1947 and renamed HTMS PHOSAMTON on 20 Nov 1947 She attended the Queens Coronation Spithead review in 1953 whilst on Naval Cadet training.  She is still in service as a training ship and is believed to be the oldest Steam Engined warship still in service. 

 

The part about still in service is obviously outdated and no longer accurate. However, I had no idea she was steam powered.

 

 

 

[Dustdevil]

1 minute ago, Misterwhisper said:

Tow it out to Koh Chang and scuttle it off the island's east coast. Then it can join almost the entire Thai fleet that's been lying there on the bottom since 1941 courtesy of a handful of French warships sent over from Indochina. To this day, the event is touted in Thai history books as a "great victory"; a rather typical OTT description, just like classifying this 1,000-ton nutshell of a vessel a "battleship".  

A lot of hack journalists confuse "warship" with "battleship" because they don't know anything about ships. Some CNN silly woman kept referring to a crashed 737 as a "jumbo jet."

[AsiaHand]

5 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

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 ?

When I was associated with the Thai Nave  10 years ago the I found out that the government allows the navy to charge fuel for the many ships in port that are never or rarely used so as to "show a ready war fleet" in defense of the country. Meaning that what money for fuel was not bought goes to the Admirals and Captains trickling on down.

[Kiwisailor]

Suspect that this ship is already sitting on the bottom given the state of repair of the upper decks

[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

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

Is that the Chakri Naruebet based at Sattahip?

 

I went there on an open day about fifteen years ago. There was a tour around the ship.

I was with g/f at the time. Following the crowd and was about to walk up the entry ramp.

One of two naval personnel at the entrance stopped me and one said, "Sorry, foreigners aren't allowed on board."

I wasn't too worried, but I asked the guy, "What about those six Chinese in front of me, they've gone on board."

The navy guy said that Chinese were OK...

 

[Happyman58]

2 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Is that the Chakri Naruebet based at Sattahip?

 

I went there on an open day about fifteen years ago. There was a tour around the ship.

I was with g/f at the time. Following the crowd and was about to walk up the entry ramp.

One of two naval personnel at the entrance stopped me and one said, "Sorry, foreigners aren't allowed on board."

I wasn't too worried, but I asked the guy, "What about those six Chinese in front of me, they've gone on board."

The navy guy said that Chinese were OK...

 

omg lol lo lol lol lol lol  Chinese Are not foreigners now wow See a geography lesson is needed to show that  China is not part of Thailand

[bluesofa]

2 minutes ago, Happyman58 said:

omg lol lo lol lol lol lol  Chinese Are not foreigners now wow See a geography lesson is needed to show that  China is not part of Thailand

Yes, and reading the history of it in earlier posts here this morning, it was Canadian built, then belonged to the British Navy.

So 'foreigners' had more to do with it originally - until the Thai Navy bought it over seventy years ago.

 

[ratcatcher]

4 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. 

 

The ship that died of shame.....................and neglect.

 

What she needs is a 

 

It looks like she's been stripped ready for meeting Davy Jones. 

 

[Misterwhisper]

2 hours ago, Dustdevil said:

A lot of hack journalists confuse "warship" with "battleship" because they don't know anything about ships. Some CNN silly woman kept referring to a crashed 737 as a "jumbo jet."

Unfortunately, you're right. Too many hacks don't bother to do even the most rudimentary research before shelling out their lazy articles. I wonder how blank their gazes would be if I threw words like "monitor" or "dreadnought" at them. Or "pocket battleship"; they'd probably imagine it as some sort of a children's toy.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

What you guys aren't getting is the cunning plan the Thais have devised here...

 

Rather than paying money to maintain the ship and ultimately tow it somewhere and then pay more money to have it sunk....

 

Their cunning plan is just to leave it there rotting at the dock until it ultimately sinks itself from decay, and then they don't have to spend a single baht.

 

And the budget for the ship can be put toward more fruitful endeavors, like Mia Nois, Mercs, protected forest land estates, watch collections, etc etc.

 

[Psimbo]

5 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

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

Errr- it was on joint exercises with the Americans and others off the Andaman coast last month.

 

That would indicate that it had left Sattahip, sailed around Malaysia and up the coast to Phuket, then back again.

[oldrunner]

Surely you jest, and don't call me Shirley. Old joke, only a few old times would get. Seriously, do Admirals really say such things as "Battleship" for a minesweeper, or "unfortunate to waste such a good ship". Are people who say such things actually on the Government's payroll?

 

[bluesofa]

40 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

6 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

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

Errr- it was on joint exercises with the Americans and others off the Andaman coast last month.

 

That would indicate that it had left Sattahip, sailed around Malaysia and up the coast to Phuket, then back again.

I was always under the impression that was the one without an engine?

 

[Artisi]

6 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

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

 

OK

Well that's clear, sounds a bit like a definite maybe. 

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

I was always under the impression that was the one without an engine?

 

No, aircraft carrier - no planes

[bluesofa]

40 minutes ago, Artisi said:

2 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I was always under the impression that was the one without an engine?

 

No, aircraft carrier - no planes

Oh, OK. Is there one which doesn't have an engine, or is it a myth or my mistake?

 

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

10 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Oh, OK. Is there one which doesn't have an engine, or is it a myth or my mistake?

 

Maybe the new submarine from China? Prawit wanted too many watches as bribe so the money was not enough for the engine.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

Maybe the new submarine from China? Prawit wanted too many watches as bribe so the money was not enough for the engine.

Ha ha, but no, I remember hearing this fifteen years ago plus.

That must have been when Prawit was changing over from sundials to timex.

 

[55Jay]

Their POV reminds me of my deceased Thai Father-in-Law.  Pack Rat.  No money to fix all the broken, rusty shit he'd saved since 1972.  But wouldn't part with any of it,  saying he could still "fix" it and use it again someday. 

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

Oh, OK. Is there one which doesn't have an engine, or is it a myth or my mistake?

 

That I couldn't answer, but anything is possible in LOS. 

[bluesofa]

10 minutes ago, Artisi said:

That I couldn't answer, but anything is possible in LOS. 

I've done some googling, and from what I can find, as you say, Chakri Naruebet has no aircraft.

I always though that was why it was docked at Sattahip - due to no engine. Looks like I was wrong, I can't find anything it or any other ship missing an engine.

 

[Mac98]

15 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. 

Yes, common journalistic mistake. Warship would be proper term. Battleship is a class of warship, as is a minesweeper or destroyer.

[Catoni]

On 5/20/2018 at 11:10 PM, geriatrickid said:

You sparked my interest.  Quite an interesting history

 

HMS Minstrel (J 445)

Minesweeper of the Algerine class

Navy-The Royal Navy

Type-Minesweeper

Class-Algerine 

Pennant-J 445 

ModReciprocating engined 

Built byRedfern Construction Ltd. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) 

Ordered-15 Mar 1943 

Laid down-27 Jun 1944 

Launched-5 Oct 1944 

Commissioned-7 Jun 1945 

End service-Feb 1947 

History- In July 1945 she joined the 10th MSF, Nore Command Nov 1945 10th MSF, East Indies Jan 1946 11th MSF Feb 1946 7th MSF June 1946 11th MSF Paid off in Feb 1947 to Category B reserve at Singapore. She was bought by the Royal Thai Navy in April 1947 and renamed HTMS PHOSAMTON on 20 Nov 1947 She attended the Queens Coronation Spithead review in 1953 whilst on Naval Cadet training.  She is still in service as a training ship and is believed to be the oldest Steam Engined warship still in service. 

 

The part about still in service is obviously outdated and no longer accurate. However, I had no idea she was steam powered.

 

 

 

 

She also had a crew of 85, and Canada originally armed the ship with 1x 4" (102 mm) QF Mk V gun,

   and 4x Oerlikon 20 mm guns. 

   

 

[tifino]

... hope someone in the Thai navy will first research;

 - how it was done properly, with the HMAS Castlemaine

[sprq]

On 5/21/2018 at 6:15 AM, 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. 

Yes, so many people say "battleship" when they mean "warship". A battleship is the largest warship class of all, and very few exist these days in any navy.

[sprq]

On 5/21/2018 at 9:55 PM, Mac98 said:

Yes, common journalistic mistake. Warship would be proper term. Battleship is a class of warship, as is a minesweeper or destroyer.

The one that most annoys me is journalists writing "runway" when they mean "taxiway" or "tarmac". I mean, FGS, they take planes all the time but they don't know the simplest airport terminology. It's unforgivable given the circumstances of their job, whereas getting battleship wrong is a lot more excusable. Many have probably never even been to sea.

[Artisi]

On ‎5‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 12:30 PM, tifino said:

... hope someone in the Thai navy will first research;

 - how it was done properly, with the HMAS Castlemaine

probably looks like that in the eyes of the Thai navy chiefs.