The sonars were inoperable by the late 1960s. Yet the navy has always been, and remains, an important factor in Myanmar's … By mid-1942, Japan had occupied the whole territory, pushing onwards into western Raj India. Sailing to San Diego, CA that month, the ship milled about for a few weeks before decommissioning into mothballs on 26 March 1946. As designed during WWII, the River class displaced 1,370t standard and 1,830t full. At independence the British gifted Burma with some of these AA guns for use both ashore and at sea, and more were bought over the years. The WWII history of USS Creddock (MSF-356) isn’t long, because there really isn’t one. The weapons fit was rounded out by ten 20mm AA guns (when HMS Fal transferred to Burma after WWII, this had already been reduced to eight). The Myanmar Navy is undergoing rapid modernization and expansion. The Myanmar Navy is based around surface combatants, ... Myanmar has started to consider its maritime security environment more seriously, but it will take more than new ships … The emphasis of this class was getting warships built as fast as possible in as many places as possible; preferably minor shipyards (including on the Great Lakes) to free up larger shipbuilders for larger types. Before 1988, the Myanmar Navy was small and its role in the many counterinsurgency operations was much less conspicuous than those of the army and air force. When the ex-USS Creddock was transferred the US Navy rated the top speed at 14¾ kts. The Myanmar navy says the empty cargo ship was being tugged to a ship-breaking plant in Bangladesh when bad weather caused it to become detached. In April 1958 the ex-HMS Mariner, a WWII Royal Navy patrol minesweeper, was recommissioned as UBS Yang Myo Aung. The River-class frigate was built as HMS Fal for the British Royal Navy … The ship regularly supported the army fighting ashore throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s. Although less glamorous than the flagship UBS Mayu, they were equally or maybe more useful. The navy of Myanmar (formerly Burma) is not well studied and prior to the mid-2000s, did not really amount to much. In 1948, anti-government rebels were occupying fortifications left over from WWII and proved impossible to dislodge from land. The minesweeping kit was not certain. These two WWII warships have outlasted various proclamations of their demise, both inside Myanmar and out. Afterwards Dr. Maung suggested that instead of being scrapped, UBS Mayu should be converted into a museum ship. (USS Farmington four weeks after WWII ended. In 2012, the navy took de­liv­ery of two Type 053H1 class frigates from China. The handover ceremony was held on the deck of the ship, and was attended by Myanmar ministers led by Gen. Aung San and members of the press. This modernization did not take place in the 1970s. UBS Mayu also undertook non-combat missions. The Bago river is very muddy and this also acts as a natural algae retardant. Myanmar Navy plan to build 10 ships of this class. To do this, a sailor had to use a ratchet wrench. The Indian Navy is also working on the training of Myanmar Navy personnel in submarine operations not only at INS Satvahana at Vishakhapatnam but also in Myanmar itself. (Scene from a state-funded navy documentary video which shows UBS Mayu as if the ship was still operational. For the PCE-842s, there was nothing that could be done about it. During WWII there would have been reload racks and handling posts as well, which were not reinstalled. This image is snipped from a Bing Maps look from the summer of 2020. (The permanently-grounded UBS Mayu in 2014. Below is a screenshot comparison of the photos in the misleading post (L) and the navy's photo (R): The fourth photo, which shows several men on board … The course of WWII dictated some of this; by mid-1944 amphibious landing craft and destroyers were needed in the Pacific more than minesweepers. In August 1947 USS Farmington was assigned to the US Naval Reserve’s 9th District and homeported in Chicago, IL. The Myanmar navy uses this quay as a sort of “overflow lot” for the main naval pier on the other side of the new Thilawa Container Port inbetween them. Japan opened the colony as a new war front in early December 1941 including a massive bombing raid against Rangoon on Christmas Eve. The easiest clue aft is the weapons. Before 1988, the Myanmar Navy was small and its role in the many counterinsurgency operations was much less conspicuous than those of the army and air force. The same could be said for the decomissioned Spurances and Ticonderogas. There are differences in the superstructure rear. Some caused by poor maintenance. It shows UMS Yan Gyi Aung having moved since January but still at the “power station pier”. Survey Ship from Singapore.It was captured by Myanmar Navy in 1974 and using as … What is today Myanmar was annexed by Great Britain in 1886 as part of Raj India. The Admirable class used paravanes and cutting cables to destroy moored contact mines. There are two ex-US Navy WWII warships still in the Myanmar navy in 2020: UMS Yan Tuang Aung (41), formerly USS Farmington (PCE-894) a PCE-842 class escort and UMS Yan Gyi Aung (42), formerly USS Creddock (MSF-356) an Admirable class minesweeper. It is not at the Thanlyin Naval Base but rather a small, standalone facility 2 miles upriver called DCS which is about 3 miles from downtown Yangon. Well I am sure this hello pad was done at least by the year 1960. Here in its new home, it is not completely accurate to describe UBS Mayu as a “museum ship”. This was the most complex operation the WWII-vintage frigate participated in and also the actual combat most distant from the ship’s homeport. Upgrades to frigates include the replacing of HY 2 anti ship missiles by more lethal C-802 missiles and installing new sensors. UBS Yang Myo Aung served on until 1982. Three warships from WWII served on for decades in the Burmese navy and as of 2020, two still were. The Myanmar Navy (Burmese: တပ်မတော် (ရေ); Burmese pronunciation: [taʔmədɔ̀ jè]) is the naval branch of the armed forces of Myanmar with 19,000 men and women. Its primary missions were to control the Irrawaddy River, and to protect the ships carrying the army to the front. The USN has lots of ships that make it past 30 years of service; they just aren’t in the battle fleet. The exercises, set next to the contested South China Sea, will take place the first week of September. (The forward QF Mk.XIX aboard UBS Mayu. Commissioned in 2011 and displacing 2500 tons, the Aug Zeya carries eight Russian-built Kh-35 anti-ship cruise missiles. The boiler tubes dated back to WWII and were near or at the end of their lives. The lattice structures are launchers for illumination rockets.). The ships obtained hull numbers F21 and F23. I’d call that #1 in the battle fleet. During WWII, the expectations of minesweepers was different than today, and it was considered likely that they would come under attack themselves, and would also be expected to perform patrol duties when not sweeping mines. It had a low (1,300fps) muzzle velocity and very limited anti-aircraft ability. This photo shows the location of the Hedgehog and also the then-single 20mm mounts.). In the early 1980s it was reported abroad that both would be discarded, however they were not. The Myan­mar Navy started its mod­erni­sa­tion pro­gram in 2001 in an at­tempt to re­place older ships and equip­ment. The Myanmar Navy – Tamadaw Yay – has publicly displayed its lone submarine at its ongoing Fleet Exercise 2020 (Exercise ‘Bandoola’), which kicked off on 15 October. I liveaboard and cruise a 1942 USCG still going. The various military juntas which ruled Myanmar over the decades had atrocious human rights records. The class was originally typed as “minesweeper, general-purpose, coastal subcategory” (AMc-___) then just general-purpose minesweeper (AM-___) and finally fleet minesweeper (MSF-___). A stranded vessel empty of crew and goods that was found in Myanmars waters this week was earlier being towed by a ship with 13 Indonesian nationals before it became unmoored, the Myanmar Navy … An Arleigh Burke might see more use in a year than these ships saw in 50. The Myanmar Navy is the naval warfare branch of the armed forces of Myanmar. On UMS Yan Tuang Aung there is just a simple curved exhaust pipe inside, while UMS Yan Gyi Aung has a mushroom cap. Since the 2015 election, there has been a bit more openness in the Myanmar military and it is possible that access to this WWII veteran warship will be increased in the future. The ship's location was last recorded off the coast of Taiwan in 2009, and this was the first reported instance of an abandoned ship appearing in Myanmar's waters, according to the AFP news agency. The AN/QCU-2 in theory had a range of 8,000yds (3¾ NM) against a submerged u-boat but realistically it was just 1 – 2 NM as the system would have to contend with not only its own limitations but the ship’s two diesels (which were hard-mounted to the hull structure) banging away behind the transducer. (UBS Yang Myo Aung, the former HMS Mariner of WWII, in 1958.). They spend vastly more time at sea in rough conditions and seeing heavy use. (A political VIP being given a tour of UBS Mayu during 2018.). With proper paint steel last indefinitely. When both ships transferred to Burma in the 1960s, they had AN/QCU-2 sonars, the final variation of the WWII QCU set. I dont believe they would have done an extensive rebuild before they even had helicopters in the country, let alone in the navy. ), (UMS Yan Tuang Aung – the former PCE – behind UMS Yan Gyi Aung- the former MSF – in December 2019.). Several companies, most prominently Hatch & Kirk, did (and to an extent, still do) specialize in sourcing hard-to-find legacy parts for old warships but this is not cheap and furthermore, Burma / Myanmar’s relations with the USA have not always been great since these ships were delivered. Despite superficially being a half-sister to UBS Yan Tuang Aung, UBS Yan Gyi Aung has Busch-Sulzer BS-539 diesels and thus, is not 100% spare parts-interchangeable. The navy wasted all that money on the near useless LCS fleet. This is the main reason for initiating of … Before 1988, the Myanmar Navy was small and its role in the many counterinsurgency operations was much less conspicuous than those of the army and air force. For several years UBS Mayu sat this way, cordoned off by a barbed wire fence and slowly rusting away. (photo via Radio Free Asia). Before 1988, the Myanmar Navy was small and its role in the many counterinsurgency operations was much less conspicuous than those of the army and air force. On 31 March 1967, the ex-USS Creddock was purchased as UBS Yan Gyi Aung. The post's Burmese-language caption translates to English as: "Across the Bay of Bengal". The ship itself was free but Burma bore the cost of reactivating UBS Yang Myo Aung after several years in British mothballs. There was also a limited bandwidth of trained sailors available for the hundreds of new warships being built. 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