The naval forces worked on the operation plan and the contents agreed at this at-port exercise will be conducted at sea on November 21 in the Gulf of Thailand. According to Colonel Nguyen Duc Thang of the Staff and Operation Section, as the operation plan goes, all ships will travel from Pattaya docking area to the third position of intended movement (PIM 3). At PIM 3, ships are to travel at the speed of 10 nautical miles an hour. Also from PIM 3, ships will start building a round-shape formation around Ship KD Lekiu of Malaysia. As the ships move from PIM3 to PIM 4, they will break the round-shape to form the shape of number 50 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN establishment.

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Heads of participating delegations in a joint photo

At PIM 4, ships will be divided into two tactical groups. Tactical Group 1 will move to PIM 5 and Tactical Group 2 to PIM 6. Frigate 012-Ly Thai To is in Tactical Group 1 and will conduct formation movement, supply-at-sea, and naval information and communication contents. When moving from PIM 5 to PIM 6, both groups will join an exercise on capturing ships illegally transporting toxic chemicals at sea.

Earlier, on November 14, two conferences were held at the same dockyard. At the conferences, leading experts in maritime area, environment and international law as well as representatives of naval forces exchanged ideas and share experience in dealing with oil spill incidents at sea, preserving maritime environment, and more.

Also on November 14, the head of Vietnam’s naval delegation and captain of Frigate 012-Ly Thai To joined other heads of delegations of other countries participating in AMNEX-1 paid a courtesy call to Commander of the Thailand Royal Fleet and Chief of Sattihip Naval Base.

Translated by Huu Duong