Thai warship capsises.....
 

Let's hope they rescue the remainder. I think it will be more than a control issue. It is not as if high seas (and they seem not that high) would have broken her up because she couldn't keep her head. Battened down they may have got very sick but not, I suggest, sunk.

I am not overly surprised to hear of a loss of an RTN ship to be honest, an ex shipmate of mine (now working for Saab) did some work for the RTN 5 years ago (installing the CMS and FC systems).

He was asked to go to sea on trials in the two Chinese built Naresuan class frigates he had just integrated the Saab 9LV CMS into - and despite having over 40 years experience at sea in both RN and Swedish naval ships, he refused point blank - stating that they were too dangerous to go to sea in for a number of reasons:

1. Liferafts secured to the deck with no hydrostatic release mechanisms on the gripes.
2. Rubber seals on watertight bulkhead doors/hatches either missing, corroded or painted over.
3. Emergency escape hatches from compartments below the waterline permanently sealed or padlocked.

Not sure if this class was an exception - but he has refused to get involved with RTN contracts after his experiences in Naresuan and Taksin.

AN old friend of mine would concur with your comments Tom. He spent some years in Thailand doing something concerning supplying helicopter spares to the Thai Government. He retired back to the UK some years ago, and has told me about some of his hair raising experiences. All he would say, not necessarily as a general condemnation, is that "Life is cheap."