Wow.  Is anyone else suddenly feeling extremely vulnerability in terms of attacks against Thailand by sea?

Geez ....  when I first heard of the submarine plans I was supportive because from my reading I got the impression:  1) it was part of a re-balancing of strength versus China's build-up - by the west plus independent SE Asian and Oceania nations contributions; 2) the subs were being procured from Sweden (or was it Finland?).

But come the day, Chinese supplied subs will be fighting for China SE Asian domination whether or not the Thai navy brass want the badge on the engine room door to match their privilege cars.

Thailand continues to be a snake in the grass in all matters international.  Seems they are yet again choosing the wrong side and remain silent on Chinese encroachment and expansion over SE Asian.  (In similar vein, it's Surprising it's not a Russian engine they want.)

.

Edited April 11, 20224 yr by PeeJayEm
Mistaken send

11 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Time to be honest with themselves & the Thai people, a submarine would definitely be a nice to have item but in sincerity is it a NEED to have item? who is the country that would invade Thailand by sea?? 

I, and I think many others, had taken that it was a contribution to the SEA plus Oceania plus West strategic naval rebalancing versus China's aggressive naval  expansion over SE Asia.

But if it's China they're buying the subs from they're clearly on the wrong side yet again.

Hope they are going to give the brown envelopes back..

Hope they are going to give the brown envelopes back..

After careful thinking I believe the best option for Thailand would be to cancel the submarine contract and replace it with a contract for several thousand pedalos. These could be used by the navy for coastal operations and for use on canals and rivers. Another benefit is it would improve the fines of the matelots as it is very difficult to maintain personal fitness on a sub if on a 6 month or year patrol.

 

A French Au-pair told me a typical French joke: Why don't the Belgian Navy have any submarines? Because one of the submariners always like to sleep with the window open! Who knew that the French had a sense of humour!

10 hours ago, Thunglom said:

Because of their use, Subs were promptly decommissioned by the Army under Phibun 

"The Thai submarine service came to an end following a coup attempt against the military government of Plaek Pibunsongkhram known as the Manhattan Rebellion. The failed coup, led by a group of naval officers on 29 June 1951, led to the Navy's being stripped of its power and influence. The Submarine Group was dissolved on 16 July, and all four boats were decommissioned on 30 November 1951.^[8]

The submarines were moored for some time in the Chao Phraya River near Siriraj Hospital Pier, but they were finally sold to the Siam CementCompany for scrap. Part of the superstructure of the Matchanu is preserved at the Naval Museum in Samut Prakan Province, almost the only reminder that Thailand once had a submarine fleet." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchanu-class_submarine

 

I suppose this Matchanu superstructure wouldn't be too far off from the chinese delivery  - there's a lot of room around Samut Prakan for more of them RTN trophies 

Would it be in China's interest for Thailand to have submarines?  I don't think so.  But China can keep them busy while they plan for one, give them setbacks to deal with, etc.   And of course keep the pockets stuffed.  Maybe sometime in the next decade...

 

But once they do have them and they start making that stinky cabbage soup they'll never get that smell out of the boat!  ????

 

 

Edited April 11, 20224 yr by bendejo

Come on man! LOL! The Thai Navy with a submarine. What body of water will you patrol the Thai Gulf? You could find other military hardware for all the Thai military's with the money you would spend on a submarine.

Edited April 11, 20224 yr by Kenneth White

12 hours ago, PeeJayEm said:

Geez ....  when I first heard of the submarine plans I was supportive because from my reading I got the impression:  1) it was part of a re-balancing of strength versus China's build-up - by the west plus independent SE Asian and Oceania nations contributions; 2) the subs were being procured from Sweden (or was it Finland?).

But come the day, Chinese supplied subs will be fighting for China SE Asian domination whether or not the Thai navy brass want the badge on the engine room door to match their privilege cars.

Thailand continues to be a snake in the grass in all matters international.  Seems they are yet again choosing the wrong side and remain silent on Chinese encroachment and expansion over SE Asian.  (In similar vein, it's Surprising it's not a Russian engine they want.)

Sweden make cutting edge submarines designed for shallow waters.
But they don´t hand over brown envelopes to buyers so the whole deal was pointless to the thais.

On 4/11/2022 at 5:15 AM, Geoffggi said:

Time to be honest with themselves & the Thai people, a submarine would definitely be a nice to have item but in sincerity is it a NEED to have item? who is the country that would invade Thailand by sea?? 

Last time it was Japan.

20 hours ago, kickstart said:

I think this will be a good get out clause for the government ,with the payment schemes they have had supporting the populous during Covid ,lack of tourist revenue,high speed train project, and now inflation, I would say the coffers are about empty.

Could well be just on hold ?,if they did buy them now would they have the money to run them ,or would they be parked up next to that other white elephant the aircraft carrier . 

Do they care if its parked up doing nothing? They have their commissions, got their future kick backs secured on the long term maintenance contracts,got their 100's of millions for the new submarine base.... they could not give a toss if it sits their doing nothing as long as they get the budgets for it...

And there goes Chinese tourism away. 

How about using those funds to alleviate Poverty ( 6 million here?) and reform useless Education system ? Where that money should have gone firstly ????Too Simple I suppose. 

On 4/11/2022 at 7:03 AM, hotchilli said:

He wouldn't dare do it.

''Get it done'' he said ; as i for one don't want to be paying back my slice of the Bung !

8 hours ago, Kenneth White said:

Come on man! LOL! The Thai Navy with a submarine. What body of water will you patrol the Thai Gulf? You could find other military hardware for all the Thai military's with the money you would spend on a submarine.

If they are ever let loose with Sub's i for one will never set to sea again !