Family members wave goodbye as the Royal Thai
Navy sets sail for Somalia.
Patcharapol Panrak
Two Royal Thai Navy vessels have shipped out from
Sattahip to begin Thailand’s second mission to battle pirates off the coast
of Somalia.
Adm. Kamthon Pumhiran, the navy’s top commander, and Adm.
Narong Tedwisan, head of the Royal Thai Fleet, bid adieu to the 368 crew
members of the HTMS Similan and HTMS Naratiwat at the Sattahip Naval Base
July 12. Sattahip Temple Abbott Wiboon Thammaban and 10 other monks prayed
and blessed the ships before they set sail.
The Similan, which patrolled the waters off Somalia last
winter, and Narathiwat will work the Gulf of Aden for 140 days as part of an
international task force. Capt. Paradon Puangkaew will be the mission
commander while Capt. Tanin Likitwong will head the unit.
The force of 368 men, which includes a navy SEAL team and
Bell helicopter group, is expected to return Nov. 28.
Before setting sail, Paradorn and Thanin led the entire
task force on a run up Khao Laem Poo Chao to pray and give offerings to the
spirit of Prince Chumphon, the father of the Thai navy.
Paradon said all naval personnel believe the Sattahip
hillside is Chumphon’s holy resting place and pray there for good fortune
and safe returns from seafaring missions.
Naval officials are certainly hoping to improve on the
results of last year’s mission.
The HTMS Pattani and HTMS Similan made a much-touted
137-day mission to the Gulf of Aden from September until January, but
returned to a muted welcome due to the Thai task force’s mixed results in
combating piracy as part of an international task force.
While the Thai ships managed a dramatic rescue of 23 crew
members of a Thai fishing boat hijacked by Somali pirates off the coast of
Yemen Nov. 3, their early success was dampened by the failure to free 27
Thai fishing boat crewmembers hijacked and held hostage since Dec. 24. They
remained hostages until mid-April, three months after the Thai fleet
returned home.
