WesWorld

Officiating new years celebrations, King Bhumibol Adulyadej is present for the launching of His Majesty's Thailand Naval Ship Taksin, the small cruiser being the first new ship launched in some time by the nation, and a source of some national pride. After launching, Taksin is towed across the harbor into drydock for its completion, scheduled for early March. Meanwhile, construction continues in earnest on her sister ship Naruesan, as well as the carrier Rachan. Dockworkers in Phucket are elated as well, with Chaemp laid down in drydock there for construction, bringing prestige and jobs to the port city. Two more ships of the class are laid down in Bangkok.


The first new planes begin arriving, with squadrons starting to train with their new mounts and convert over from outdated planes. The secondary market is open with aircraft practically considered classics being put on sale as the Air Force and Navy updates.


The Royal Thai Army reports:


Conversions of their old Vickers 6 ton tanks into open-topped 6 ton AA vehicles complete, with a single 40mm AA gun mounted in place of turret and much of the superstructure, only a folding gun shield for crew protection in the direct-fire role.


The first Brigade of the Royal Thai Armored Cavalry brigades parades in its brand new Char 6B tanks, with infantry scouts in their lightweight but open-topped carriers moving behind them, showcasing the variety of variants, from Vickers heavy machine guns to mortars to a 20mm armed anti-aircraft vehicle, and finally an armored ambulance and Infantry transport or artillery tractor. The simple yet rugged vehicles are made to be easy to maintain and able to maneuver effectively in the jungles and other difficult terrain of the nation.

All front-line combat troops have been issued the new 7x36mm carbine as their standard arm, with older rifles being relegated to armories and second-line use. The Royal Armory at Krabl also showcased its new weapon to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a light machine gun with a top-feeding 30 round magazine in the 7x36mm cartridge. After a good showing in trials in October of last year, it is hoped that the new weapon will enter service later this year in limited quantities as production is ramped up. King Bhumibol Adulyadej remains adamant, despite detractors, that a full power rifle cartridge for general infantry use is a waste of weight, and that the smaller intermediate cartridge will be sufficient for regular infantry service, with heavy machine guns and vehicle machine guns retaining the longer-ranged weapons.

The Thailand National Aircraft Company, long a source of maintenance and assembly for the Royal Thai Air Force and Royal Thai Navy, has expanded its repetoire to include the first military Autogyro in Thailand. Sources state that testing of the company's small autogyros that have been used for several years to deliver mail and medicine to inaccessible regions has been conducted aboard TNS Sri Ayuthia throughout 1948. One unnamed source within the Navy said that early problems with rotors 'self spooling' due to wind over the flight deck were addressed and studies were conducted on lift and other matters, as well as proving the aircraft type is safe for military use.

In March, 1949, the Thailand National Aircraft Company announced a production contract for the CC-1, a two-seat Autogyro for the Royal Thai Army and Royal Thai Navy. The Army variant will be a two seat artillery spotter and liason aircraft, while the Navy variant will be a two seat Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft capable of carrying two depth charges. Initial flights show excellent performance on rough or short fields, and with a 20kt turn into the wind the autogyro practically takes off vertically from the Sri Ayuthia. Both are otherwise unarmed and unarmored with open cockpits, showing their roots in the older mail autogyros of the Royal Thai Mail Service.

Sources state that further developments are being made and a larger aircraft is possible within the year.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Royal Thai Navy announces a live fire exercise to be conducted in the gulf of Thailand on July 1st. Same will be an air, sea, and submarine exercise and will include a sinking exercise to evaluate technical and tactical considerations of the Royal Thai Navy. Same will conclude no later than July 20th.

April, 1949:
Krabl Aeronautics, a consortium with alleged but unconfirmed Royal support, has opened in a group of large warehouses near Krabl. Sources say that much work is being done inside the buildings, and a runway is being graded and prepared for paving. James Yenbamroong, son of Thai and American parentage and educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the purported entrepreneur and lead engineer for the company. Prior to returning to his paternal home, Mr. Yenbamroong was an engineer with Lockheed in the United States. Those close to the government have said that they have 'great hope' that this company will be able to turn the corner on providing for local manufacture of new aircraft to a quantity and standard necessary for equippping the Royal Thai Air Force.

May 1st, 1949:

Admiral Luang Yuthasastr Kosol, sails aboard the TNS Sri Ayuthia with Task Force 1-1. Sailing in a parallel column is the older cruiser TNS Chakri Naerubet, followed by the TNS Taksin. Admiral Luang pans his glass across the shiny new metalwork and pristine paint on the Royal Thai Navy's newest ship, combining a shakedown cruise with a cruise to train and show the flag abroad. The small squadron, with a sextet of destroyers in train, makes its way out of the Gulf of Thailand and towards Manila for its first stop. Admiral Luang pensively observes his most powerful task force, painfully aware of the gaps in capability between his oldest and newest ships, but ready to uphold the word of his King if ordered to. Without need of turning into the wind, the CC-1 squadron aboard Sri Ayuthia performs its own training, the autogyros taking of and orbiting the Task Force as it sails. Ordinarily it would be mere routine, but considering the heightened tensions in the region, there was a reason of caution to keep an aircraft up to observe for any potential activity and to preclude misunderstandings or misidentifications.

May 7th, 1949.

The Thai National Aircraft Company announces a partnership with De Havilland Limited in developing and producing new aircraft to be built in and for the Thai and Southeast Asian market. Officials from both companies were present for the announcement, which detailed that TNAC and De Havilland were both working on military and civilian projects, with De Havilland providing engines and engineering expertise and TNAC providing major design and manufacturing services.

May 30th, 1949: Alert observers in Krabl noticed two strange looking gliders being towed by a RTAF Ju-52 today. While questions were asked, no information is forthcoming from Krabl Aviation about the nature of these gliders or what they might be testbeds for.

June 7th, 1949:

Krabl Aeronautics announced the crash of its XB-1 testbed glider. Chief Engineer and President James Yenbamroong advised that further modifications to the first fully indigenous Thai combat aircraft design would be made and that he was confident in the basic design of the plane. Much secrecy has surrounded the activity of Krabl Aeronautics, especially since a shipment of Rolls Royce engines was noted to have been delivered to the nationally backed aircraft company. This has been the first look into the project, which appears to be a jet-powered flying wing design aircraft.

In response to pressure from the press and legislators, the Government announced today that it has entered into a contract with Krabl Aeronautics to develop two aircraft under the XF and XB project names respectively. They advised that all outstanding orders for aircraft from Thailand's international partners would continue to be honored, but that Thailand was seeking to develop its own aviation industry further in order to take its proper place on the international stage. The offical statement was that these aircraft were for internal use by the Royal Thai Air Force and Royal Thai Navy, and no one would speculate on the possibility of export at this stage.

June 11th, 1949:

Admiral Luang Yuthasastr Kosol lead Task Force 1-1 of His Royal Thai Majesty's Navy into Manila Bay today for crew rest and a visit of friendship and goodwill between neighboring maritime nations. HRMTNS Taksin leads the procession into Manila Bay, and moors pierside with the Admiral onboard, the other ships in the task force taking anchorages to respect the Filipinos' pier space for their own commerce.

Admiral Luang Yuthasastr Kosol invites local dignitaries and ambassadors from friendly nations to a tour and a meal onboard the Royal Thai Navy's newest vessel. In addition, he offers to embark in some joint training between his pilots and the Filipino pilots. The First Fleet Band also plans to host a concert from Taksin with chairs being set up pierside. Shore leave is also planned for the more than two thousand crewmen onboard the various ships of the task force, who have been at sea for over a month on one of the longer continuous deployments of Royal Thai Navy ships in a decade......they are expected to stimulate the local economy with some rather pressing needs to spend their pay, and Royal Thai Marines have been seen meeting with Filipino Shore Patrol and local police to ensure that Thai sailors do not disrupt local affairs.

June 12th, 1949:

Krabl Aeronautics announced today that a full scale model of the XB-1 bomber prototype has been sent to the United States for full-scale wind-tunnel testing at NACA. The press release states that it was due to a need to rapidly address any lingering issues with the larger aircraft and that NACA had the most immediate availability of its facilities. Questions about more regional wind-tunnel testing and research facilities were not answered, but it's likely that regional tensions are a consideration in play for shifting the wind-tunnel testing across the Pacific to America. Other considerations are that the chief engineer of Krabl Aeronautics was already intimately familiar with the facilities and methodologies utilized at NACA. Krabl Aeronautics spokesmen continue to reassure reporters that the XF-1 project is continuing as planned, and that the one/sixth-scale wind-tunnel available at the Royal Thai Academy of Sciences is sufficient for ensuring the safety of any powered prototype testing.

June 13th, 1949:

Royal Thai Army troops officially opened the new Jungle Warfare Training Center, which is sited on approximately 50 square miles of land in northern Thailand that contains a mix of open, jungle, and hill terrain. This training center is large enough to allow for battalion level exercises in realistic settings. The Royal Thai Army, now divided into Brigades rather than the venerable divisions, demonstrated its ability to move troops rapidly through multiple terrain types using a variety of light armored vehicles. It also demonstrated its combined arms warfare using rapid movements covered by vehicle mounted weapons. Army officials stated that they were pleased with the results of exercise and planned to continue regular training exercises by all RTA Brigades. While reporters were forbidden close contacts inside the closed training site, a number of aircraft, many of them older FW190As in Royal Thai Army Air Corps colors were spotted flying missions during the exercise.

The Thai Government announced today by joint decree of His Royal Thai Majesty and the Thai National Government that the Royal Thai Army Reserves and the Royal Thai Navy Auxiliary would be required to attend a rotating month long training. Various individual companies and ships companies within the auxiliaries and reserves are being called up for these 'routine training exercises'. When pressed, government spokesmen announced that over the past decade the reserves and auxiliaries had become little more than social clubs with a stipend and were not of any military value for the defense of the nation. This new forced training regimen would bring them up to the high standards expected of all members of the Royal Thai Armed Forces and would also be used to facilitate rotating out old equipment stored in armories for updated equipment now being retired from front line service.

June 18th, 1949:

Exactly one week after mooring at anchorages in Manila Bay, the Royal Thai Navy Task Force 1-1 weighed anchor and put to sea to complete the longest distance cruise made by a RTN fleet in a decade. Admiral Kosol watched from the flag bridge of TNS Taksin, now officially worked up enough to handle the duties of flagship for the remainder of the training cruise. Admiral Kosol knew that the next leg of the voyage would be the hardest, with his ships taking the week respite to make repairs and perform maintenance before the journey to the "Sink-Ex" training exercise where his aircrews and gunners would not simulate, but would actually attack a prepared ship and a prepared old submarine with live ordnance. It would be the culmination of the most ambitious training exercise ever done in the Royal Thai Navy, and the King had already made noises about demanding other such training exercises on a rotating basis to utilize each of the four task forces of the Royal Thai Navy in their primary anticipated role.

Admiral Kosol was generally impressed with the performance of Taksin and Sri Ayuthia. Chakri Neubet had suffered a few engineering casualties and he was rotating engineers and yard engineers from Taksin through the older ship to keep from burning out any of his engine room staffs. But that was the curse of a navy that was trying to reinvent itself after a decade of utter neglect. He was also ready for the new Chaemp-class Frigate-Destroyers to come into service, as the older destroyers suffered in range and overall performance, and some of them were miserably wet even in the relatively calm seaways they had been in so far.

Steaming out of the Bay, flags flying, Taksin stayed inboard and slow of the column as the Task Force passed the Philippine fortifications. As the final ships passed her, the cruiser swung her turrets out to sea, and checking to ensure no fishing craft or sightseers were nearby, Admiral Kosol gave a nod. Gun by gun from fore to aft, the starboard broadside fired in salute to their Filipino hosts, the crew being drilled in timing to ensure that each gun was fired on the beat. Thus done, Taksin accelerates to full power to take its place at the head of the Task Force.

Firing a broadside within sight of Corregidor might easily be interpreted as unfriendly. Just sayin'...

It was very obviously set up as a salute, and fired directly out to sea sea which would be towards his own ships.

Also, a salute is typically a low power charge, so a trained eye would definitely know it's not a war shot.

But as to the whole thing, we are talking about a navy which hasn't done a port visit at all in 10 years, much less a friendly port visit with a full task force. I would figure that there'd be some lookie-loos following the TF out of the harbor, and once out to sea where he should fire a salute, it would be logical for an admiral kind of riding the high of the first time in half his career that he's actually 'done' something besides watch his ships disintegrate around him....would be a bit, might we way, excited....

June 30th, 1949:

Observers from several nations were present for the first Royal Thai Navy Sinking Exercise. As the day before the official exercise kicks off, it consisted of ceremonial duties, as well as some Navy Personnel assisting local fishermen in removing their pots and nets from the exercise area and getting the catch in. The old Cruiser Sexupa, which had been slated for future scrapping, was ceremonially decommissioned, and towed to the target area. Additionally, one Perla Class Submarine, which had been constantly troubled with maintenance issues and powerplant breakdowns, was also towed to the target area, and with the assistance of divers was anchored at periscope depth in the area that would be the ASW range.

A Fleet Review of the RTN and other nation ships present for the exercise, either as participants or observers, was made by the King. (other nations note if a ship is present) Additionally, an air show of Royal Thai Navy and Air Force aircraft was made for a crowd of thousands, a martial display of both the practice of the pilots and the improvements to the air presence of their nation. (Other nations note if you sent any aircraft for the air show). Krabl Aeronautics also participated, with a powered taxi of their XB-1 prototype, showing off what will be the first fully indigenous Thai combat aircraft, and one of the first jet bombers indigenous to the Orient. The Royal Thai Army also participated, with a mock airfield assault and static displays, including a mock-up of an indigenous tank with a 100mm gun. Crowds of thousands of citizens were present at the air show and the wharf to see the display of martial prowress.