4/2020: Do we need two more submarines?

October 07, 2021

After the RS.112(Thai vs French), King Rama V felt sad. His majesty sent all his princes to many different countries such as the UK and Germany. Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse and Mahidol Adulyadej studied Naval from both UK and German naval officer school.

Both princes wrote a book called “Submarine” (เรือ ‘ส’), but prince Mahidol left from Royal Thai Navy before the first 4 Thai submarine project happened in 20 years later. The Thai government at that time, allowed the navy to purchase the first 4 submarines from Japan after reading ‘Submarine’ books. Thai Navy sent 41 sailors to Japan for training for 2 years. The first four Thai submarines were HTMS Wirun, HTMS Macharnu, HTMS Sinsamut, and HTMS Phlai Chumpon. After the completed training, they came back to Thailand.

During the Indo-China war, the Thai navy also sent the submarine to French naval bases in Vietnam, the French scared until they stopped to invade us. Since the Second World War ended, Japan lost the war, all 4 submarines ended life as a scratch due to no spare parts. Were they worth to act as power projection?

Today, the Navy is trying hard to buy new 3 submarines, one already approved, but 2 more are under the approval process. Only one submarine will lose the dignity in defense strategy especially for Thailand where there are more than one maritime territories (the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand) and surrounded by existing submarines from neighboring countries. The two submarines cost about 22.5 billion Baht, while the resources under the Thai sea value about 24 trillion Baht. Is it a worthy investment? Would it be possible in the future (my time) that our friendly neighboring countries may claim ownership to our sea? Can we wait for an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV), a smaller and cheaper drone submarine?

To reduce the conflict with the people who anti-submarine, the government has to educate them on the costs and benefits transparently. Thai people should consider the information fairly too.

A submarine is an important military machine to defend our waters. The submarine is like an eye that the enemy can’t see, giving those countries a handicap for the naval arsenal. As a student, I have to learn and grow up to be a qualified person ready to develop our own technology. Strong Will!