News Breaking : HTMS Sukhothai sank in heavy storm

[Gary]

The Royal Thai Navy has confirmed that the HTMS Sukhothai, a Ratanakosin-class corvette commissioned in 1987 has sunk, one hour ago.

According to local Thai media, the Prime Minister is monitoring the event and all crew members have been rescued and confirmed safe. The report from The Standard reads below:

“Today (18 December) from Sukhothai Luang Case, the boat had an incidence of tilt due to encountering strong waves, causing some seawater to flow into the electrical system through the exhaust pipe next to the ship, causing the power engine to be off and causing the big machine to stop working, causing the ship not to sink. Control the boat and allows water to get inside the hull to tilt later.

At 11:30 pm Navy reports Sukhothai main ship has sunk under the surface due to high water entering the ship. All of the forces are safe.

While the General Teacher. Prayut Chan-Ocha, Prime Minister and Defense Minister, followed the incident of Luang Sukhothai, which encountered a strong storm in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand, forcing the Navy to rush to help all the troops to safely return to the shore.”




The Sukhothai is one of only seven corvettes in the Royal Thai Navy, this incident represents a significant blow to the force. The Ratanakosin-class corvettes are a class of two corvettes that were built for the Royal Thai Navy in the 1980s. Constructed in the United States, a third was planned to be built in Thailand, but was canceled before construction could begin. The Ratanakosin class is used as flagships for squadrons of fast attack craft. Is was armed with:

• 1 x76/62-mm. cannon
• 1 x40L70-mm. double barrel machine gun
• 2 xOerlikon 20 mm cannon
• 8 xHarpoon (missile)launcher
• 8 xsurface-to-air Albatross missile launcher
• 6 xTorpedo tubes

The remaining major surface combatants are a single Principe de Asturias– class light aircraft carrier, two amphibious assault ships, seven frigates, and those six corvettes. Their Royal Thai Navy is composed of several dozen ships purchased from Spain, the U.S., the UK, China, and several other nations.
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Thai Royal Navy Vessel HTMS Sukhothai Sinks | Atlas News

theatlasnews.co

 

[Agha Sher]

reports that 33 sailors are missing..

 

[Khagan1923]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1604771884406476800

Hope everybody is found safe and sound.

 

[Umigami]

Navy ship sinks in storm, 31 sailors missing

An air and sea search continued on Monday for 31 missing sailors from HTMS Sukhothai, which sank in a storm in the Gulf of Thailand late on Sunday night.

www.bangkokpost.com

How bad storm in Thai could be?

 

[F-6 enthusiast]

Did the Thai Navy Purchase an aircraft carrier in the past ? what happened to it ?

 

[Gary]

Did the Thai Navy Purchase an aircraft carrier in the past ? what happened to it ?

Yes, the Chakri. Too bad the AV-8 were retired and now technically an chopper carrier + command ship. Last known movement, December 5th, transitting Singapore strait.

The Chakri Naruebet saga should be a case study for aspiring carrier operators such as Indonesian navy.

 

[Anmdt]

Navy ship sinks in storm, 31 sailors missing

An air and sea search continued on Monday for 31 missing sailors from HTMS Sukhothai, which sank in a storm in the Gulf of Thailand late on Sunday night.

www.bangkokpost.com

How bad storm in Thai could be?

Depends on the wind direction, but assuming it is crossing the gulf, then it should be blowing from south-east* thus causing large waves, at least sea state 4, and the ship had to encounter those waves from the board side (which is usually not favored).

Only for this reason it makes sense for water to break-in through the exhaust pipes when the waves are slamming the board. Heels to an angle, some air is trapped, engine either couldn't push the exhaust or the trapped air has caused the exhaust to blow. Add low and skipped maintenance and lack of training, also stress of having passengers aboard on the captain they couldn't fight the flooding in the machinery room.

If the missing crew-passengers are not found yet, they are long gone. RIP.

*the wind was surely not from the southeast when the incident took place, and hard to call it "heavy seas" as it is seen in the videos, have heard people going through worse with a smaller FAC.