Singapore’s ST Building LPD Ship, Landing Craft for Thaliland
Nov 13, 2008 15:53 EST
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ST Engineering subsidiary Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd (ST Marine), reports that they have “secured a contract in a basket of currencies amounting to about S$200m” (about $135 million) to design and build a 141 meter Landing Platform Dock (LPD) amphibious assault ship, along with ancillary vessels: a pair of 23m Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) that can transport heavy equipment like tanks from the ship’s well deck to the shore, and a pair of smaller 13m Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel (LCVP) for people and small wheeled vehicle. Their customer is “a navy in the Asia Pacific region,” other than Singapore.
That customer appears to be be the Thai Navy, which floated an RFP for an LPD-type ship in April 2008.
ST Eng lists their ship design as an “LST” (Landing Ship Tank) on their site, but it does not beach itself. The label LPD is more appropriate for these 6,500 – 8,000 ton vessels, which cost less than 1/10th as much as the USA’s 25,000 ton LPD-17 Class. Now, the ship has been launched…
March 20/11: The now offline YouTube video of the HTMS Angthong launch had this text caption:
“On 20th March 2011, Royal Thai Navy’s LPD-791 has already released to sea at ST Marine Singapore dockyard. This vessel has displacement around 7600 tons. RTN would like to use this vessel with AAV and MH-60S in marine mission. This LPD can transport 19 AAVs or 15 Trucks/Trailers , 2 LCVP and 2-4 SH-60B/MH-60S or 1 CH-47.”
Note that launch is not the same as delivery, which requires more integration and then acceptance trials.
Nov 11/08: Singapore’s ST Engineering announces the contract. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid 2009, and delivery is planned for in the second half of 2012.
Amphibious ships have important non-military uses in this region, where monsoon floods and tsunamis frequently produce disaster situations that require their ability to arrive by sea instead of submerged or destroyed roads, land supplies and bring people from the near-shore area, and use its vehicles and helicopters to help inland.
