Following HM the King’s message

By Bangkok Pundit Jan 02, 2010 11:59PM UTC

Some of HM the King’s speeches are open to interpretation, but the below excerpt from a DPA article from HM the King’s 80th birthday speech in 2007 is fairly clear:

On a serious note, King Bhumibol used his birthday eve speech to admonish the navy for recently expressing the wish to buy a submarine, noting that submarines were unsuitable for Thailand. The Gulf of Thailand is a notoriously shallow body of water.

BP: Given the navy is again wanting to buy submarines, how should one interpret this…..

h/t to a reader

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Anonymous

“No significant redrawing of boundaries are to be expected.”

Speak for yourself. Thailand still longs after the territory it ceded to Cambodia due to the World Court, that it seized from French Indochina during WWII, that France seized in the Franco-Siamese War, …

Cambodia itself is inconsequential. It’s Vietnam, and the buffer to Vietnam, that is Thailand’s issue.
Reg

But think of the kickbacks of buying subs, old or new. The navy never does as well as the air force or army guys do. If my memory is not faulty, weren’t the navy’s last big purchases the Harriers that don’t fly and the aircraft carrier that doesn’t sail?
Anonymous

I don’t pretend to be a military strategist, but would seem that in the long term Vietnam may be a better economic performer so more able to afford its “toys”.

Seem to recall little love between Vietnam and China and Thailand moving more towards the China sphere. If the US really through banker greed and government corruption supporting said have stuffed their economy, then this will continue as Thais are opportunistic not loyal. Look at their history.

Most industry seems Chinese controlled anyway with Thais doing what they do best, sucking corruption payments out of the actually productive.

Vietnam despite the war actually seems a better fit to the US.
Anonymous

Random note: HMK’s Prussian-educated father was an early advocate of U-boat warfare, and tried to get the Siamese Navy to purchase some. However, The Prince of Songkhla wasn’t considered very powerful at the time and the WWI-era Siamese Navy was dominated by British-educated princes who followed the Royal Navy strategy of buying warships instead. The Prince of Songkhla ended up resigning his Naval commission in frustration, decided to become a physician, and the rest is history…

Another random note: the most realistic use of submarines for Thailand would be to destroy Vietnamese shipping. Or conversely, to break a Vietnamese blockade of the Gulf of Siam. Let’s not kid ourselves – Vietnam is Thailand’s only credible enemy. Destroying Vietnamese shipping means submarine warfare outside of the Gulf. That being said, HMK has a valid point when noting that submarines would be of limited use in breaking a blockade of the Gulf.
Ricefield Radio

“how should one interpret this…..” The same way that everyone always does. Select the parts you like and ignore the parts you don’t. It’s the Thai way.
Anonymous

I don’t think there is really any realistic use of submarines for the Thai Navy. The era where region powers like Thailand and Vietnam duke it out over some issues is long over. For the time being and for the foreseeable future, any armed conflicts will be minor border skirmishes, which may have great political ramifications, but are military inconsequential. No significant redrawing of boundaries are to be expected. Any major armed conflicts will only happen as proxy war between the world’s great powers. Modern weaponry is too expensive and too sophisticated and cannot be produced locally. Thailand and her regional adversaries will deplete their arsenal in the first few weeks of war.
That said, armed procurement has its indirect use. Interoperability with allies is a good insurance. And though it may be distasteful, as a weak country technologically and diplomatically, Thailand still has to pay their dues to the military-industry complex of the great powers as an instrument of diplomacy.
So, while the submarine may not be particularly practical and useful, it may not be entirely useless if it helps maintain relationship vis a vis Russia.
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Following HM the King’s message

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