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.”
HTMS Sukhothai sinking today due to engineering failure and heavy sea state. pic.twitter.com/znCR7wWVxO
— Tessaron News (@TessaronF) December 18, 2022
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.
