After announcing his retirement at the end of the month, Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet of the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) promised on Friday that he would not leave a “mess” for his successor.
According to published sources, Choengchai has given the green light for China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Co (CSOC) to install a CHD 620 engine on the Chinese S26T Yuan-class submarine.
The 13.2 billion baht submarine purchase has been on hold ever since Germany refused to provide the MTU 396 diesel engine that Thailand required as a result of the European Union’s arms embargo on China.
CSOC recommended replacing it with a CHD620 engine and extending the warranty from 10 to 20 years as further assurance of the engine’s reliability.
According to Choengchai, the Budget Bureau has approved 90 million baht of the planned budget of 200 million baht for the salvage of the HTMS Sukhothai from the Gulf of Thailand, and the remaining 100 million baht will be the responsibility of the RTN.
Admiral Adung Pan-Iam, head of the Royal Thai Navy, has been tasked with drafting the RFP for the project. In two weeks, we should have the contract signed, and the salvage operation should take about three months.
In a storm on December 18 of last year, the corvette-class ship went down about 20 nautical miles (32 kilometers) off the shore of the Bang Saphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
There were 105 crew members in total.
We were able to save 76 of the crew. Twenty-four seamen were discovered dead. The probable demise of the five missing people.
On October 1st, Adung will take over as head of the RTN. According to Choengchai, he has instructed his successor to strive to repair the damage done to the RTN’s reputation and public trust in the navy over the past few years.
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