On 24th July, HMS Richmond, as part of the UK Carrier Strike Group, entered Thailand’s territorial waters to conduct a maritime military exercise with the Royal Thai Navy. Royal Navy HMS Richmond (F239) conducts complex manoeuvring exercises with the Royal Thai Navy’s HTMS Kraburi (FFG 457) and her helicopter. This demonstrates close maritime cooperation, building mutual professional respect and trust. This will be first engagement of the UK Carrier Strike Group with an ASEAN nation.
HMS Richmond is part of the United Kingdom’s Carrier Strike Group, the greatest concentration of maritime and air power to leave the UK in a generation. Led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest and most powerful surface vessel in the Royal Navy’s history on her first operational deployment, the Group consists of 9 ships, 32 aircraft, and 3700 personnel. The Carrier Strike Group will lead several NATO exercises and two of our oldest and closest partners in the US and the Netherlands will be fully integrated into the deployment.
HMS Richmond (F239) is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 6 April 1993 by Lady Hill-Norton, wife of the late Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Hill-Norton, and was the last warship to be built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders. The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. They were designed for anti-submarine warfare, but have been used for a range of uses.
HTMS Kraburi (FFG 457) is a Type 053H2 (NATO codename Jianghu-III) of the Royal Navy. Hudong Shipyard built seven hulls for the People’s Liberation Army Navy and Royal Thai Navy between 1985 and 1992. In 2013,two of PLAN Type 053H2 frigates were transferred to Bangladesh Navy. Basically, Type 053H2 is an anti-surface warfare (ASuW) frigate for the littoral environment featuring a sophisticated combat management system and enhanced electronic warfare and countermeasures capabilities.