US and Thai naval forces launch a limited HTMS Sukhothai recovery mission.

US and Thai naval forces launch a limited HTMS Sukhothai recovery mission.

Early on Thursday morning, in front of about forty members of the media crew, the Royal Thai Navy and its US Navy ally started a restricted recovery mission of HTMS Sukhothai in the Gulf of Thailand off Prachuap Khiri Khan.

The expedition, which is scheduled to last through March 14, calls for divers from the two navies to investigate the area surrounding the sunken ship in an effort to find the five crew members from HTMS Sukhothai who are still missing but are thought to be dead.

The divers are to also retrieve certain armaments and objects that are deemed emotionally precious for the RTN, as well as defuse and neutralise explosives.

The RTN had previously planned to salvage the entire ship but cancelled the plan after it turned out to be too costly. Instead, navy leaders decided to search for and retrieve or destroy armaments as recommended by the US Navy.

As part of the operation, the RTN on Wednesday night dispatched HTMS Bang Rachan, HTMS Mannai, and two patrol boats – Patrol Gunboat Medium (PGM) 997 and PGM 998 – to dock at the Prachuap Khiri Khai pier at Tambon Mae Ramphueng in Bang Saphan district.

At 5.30am Thursday, over 40 press corps, who had earlier registered with the RTN boarded buses from Sai Kaew Resort to board the PGM 997 and PGM 998 boats. They travelled about two hours to the HTMS Ang Thong, which is anchored near the site at which HTMS Sukhothai sank, about 20 nautical miles from the shore. They will remain on HTMS Ang Thong until the end of the operation.

RTN commander-in-chief Admiral Adung Phan-iam was flown by helicopter, which touched down on HTMS Ang Thong late morning. Then, he boarded a boat to travel to US Navy ship MV Ocean Valor to jointly command the recovery mission.

At the end of each day, Adung is expected to return to HTMS Ang Thong to debrief the operation results to the media.

In a related development, the Prachuap Khiri Khan marine office issued a warning to all fishing boats and tourist boats to stay out of the way of the recovery mission.

Commissioned by the Thai Navy in June 1987, the US-built HTMS Sukhothai sank during a storm in the Gulf of Thailand on December 18, 2022.

High winds and strong waves reportedly caused seawater to flood the warship, causing the engines to fail. Of the 105 crew on board, 76 were rescued, 24 were found dead and five remain missing and presumed dead.