New Thai Navy frigate sets sail from Chinese shipyard
The Royal Thai Navy (RTN)’s latest ship – a frigate that will serve as a submarine-support vessel – was delivered at Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding in Shanghai on Monday.
The delivery ceremony for HTMS Chang was presided over by RTN Commander-in-Chief Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet.
The new frigate is the latest model of a type-071 landing platform dock and was built by China Shipbuilding Trading for 6.1 billion baht.
It will be used to support a Chinese S26T Yuan class submarine, delivery of which has been delayed by a dispute over its engine. The RTN reportedly began a new round of talks last week on switching the originally specified German-made sub engines for the Chinese-built CHD620 engines.
The HTMS Chang is due to depart Shanghai today (Tuesday) and arrive at Sattahip Naval Base in Chonburi on April 25. The frigate is 213 metres long and 28 metres wide, with a maximum displacement of 20,003 tonnes, a top speed of 25 knots and a range of 10,000 nautical miles. The ship can tolerate choppy seas and accommodate a crew of 600.
The frigate was bought as part of the Navy’s 20-year strategy (2017-2036) to procure four landing platform docks to be used in amphibious warfare, marine rescue and disaster relief.
“The Royal Thai Navy has to procure more landing platform docks to maximise operational efficiency," the RTA said.
Thailand's third HTMS Chang replaces a vessel of the same name that was sunk to make the country’s largest diving wreck at Koh Chang in the Gulf of Thailand.
The second HTMS Chang was decommissioned in 2005, 43 years after the United States Navy transferred the ship, then known as the USS Lincoln County, to the Thai government on August 31, 1962.
The RTN scuttled the ship to create the Hin Luk Bat diving site in Trat province on November 28, 2012, under a project to create a reef and rehabilitate marine life.
