Two Royal Thai Navy patrol boats are about to be sunk to form the basis for an “Underwater Learning Park” for scuba divers. The vessels’ final resting place will be in Sattahip Bay, home to Thailand’s largest naval base, south of Pattaya on the northern coast of the Gulf of Thailand.
A decommissioning ceremony was carried out for Tor.94 and Tor.95 on the final day of August and the vessels will be sunk on 3 September in another ceremony, presided over by the navy’s commander-in-chief Admiral Adung Phan-iam.
According to the navy, the project is intended to provide a new tourist attraction for divers that will promote marine biodiversity, and also as a tribute to those who served on the patrol boats for nearly 40 years.
Tor.91-class patrol boats were part of a royal warship-building initiative that began in the mid-1960s and saw nine vessels built over the next 20 years. The two being sunk were later examples.
Known as the “father’s ships” because of the king’s endorsement, Tor.94 was commissioned in 1981 and Tor.95 the following year. Both were officially decommissioned in September 2019.
The Bangkok-built boats are 32m long and 5m wide, carried a complement of 21, had two diesel engines giving a top speed of 25 knots and were armed with a 40/60 Mk 3 and four 20/70 Mk 10 guns.
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