LIMA 2017 - Part 4 - Maritime Display

No doubt this blog is mainly about aircraft and things that fly, it is after all the Langkawi International MARITIME and Aerospace Exhibition. So it is a must that some form of maritime display is included. We set off to the Awana Porto Malai Hotel, where the display was held. It was a short drive there. Despite arriving early, parking was close to being full. And after parking we arrived at the entrance only to be told that we had to wait until the display was open, at 10:00 am. We arrived at 9:30.

Waited awhile and after what felt like an eternity (cliche) we were finally allowed entry. By that time, the fast patrol boats were already doing their stunts.

I head directly over to a Missile Frigate docked quite some distance away. From that point, zooming out, you could see some ships docked. There are some ships which I am not too familiar with. Do drop comments and I'll update them.

Frigate 253 of the Pakistan Navy




Final fly-by of the display

Managed to register myself for the boat ride round all the docked warships. They took us really close to the ships. Our slot was at 12pm. They used the generic Langkawi Ferry for the trips.

Looking up on the C-130

As we were setting out, managed to get another glimpse of our Malaysian Navy's submarine. Sadly they did not allow any visitors on (obviously) or even near the sub, at least on that day.

RMN KD Tun Abdul Razak - Scorpene

Not long after we boarded the ferry, we started our trip. The frigate below was where I walked to before I came aboard the ferry. They weren't open for viewing just yet. They would be open for visitors only an hour after we dock.

Italian Navy Bergamini Class - Anti Submarine Frigate (F593)

Sri Lanka Navy INS Kora (P61)

The first big boat I saw coming up on our starboard side. A landing platform capable of carrying several helicopters.

Indonesian Navy Makassar Class KRI Banjarmasin (592)

Next up on the list was the Singapore Navy's RSS Tenacious (Formidable class), a stealth frigate. It really has all the makings of a stealth craft. The angles are equivalent to that of stealth fighters. Take a look at the anchor port. It even has a cover to reduce unwanted reflection of radar waves.

RSS Tenacious (71)

Up next was the resupply ship of the Pakistan Navy, PNS NASR. If you were to look really close at the bow of the ship, you can see a navy personnel standing there in the hot sun. Our entire ferry waved at him. He had no response. Disciplined?? Check.

PNS NASR (47)

This next craft garnered a lot of interest from the occupants. A Japanese Destroyer, anchored rather far away from land.

JMSDF Akizuki Class Destroyer (116)

KD Sri Indera Sakti Support Vessel (1503)

Just a few more to see on our return trip. We did a big loop so that we passed every vessel only once.

Vietnamese Dinh Tien Hoang (011)

HMAS Launceston - Armidale Class Patrol Boat (94)

Before we docked, this little boat sped by our boat. If you look closely, you can see someone on his video camera recording us. Media maybe? Friendly crew too.

Malaysian Patrol boat

Another view of our Malaysian Navy's Submarine

In about less than an hour after we departed, we were back on dry land. It was time to head over to the Italian frigate docked by the pier. Not too many photos were taken inside as it was rather dim. Most of the places we were at were corridors anyway.

On-board NH-90 (3-08)

The tour started in the hangar. They took us round the vessel a bit before reaching the bridge. Went through narrow corridors, through bulkhead doors, up (and then down) some very very steep stairs before we arrived.

Helicopter Hangar

Command console

We only had about 10 minutes on the bridge before we had to leave to make way for the next session. They explained a bit on the systems they had as well as answered questions posed by the tour group. There were about 20 of us. If you look closely at the middle window pane below, you can see a drawing of Langkawi Island. They draw the ports at which they will be docking at in order to take note of the clearance required.

Bridge view

Bridge was really spacious and filled with monitors and consoles (towards the right side out of the photo).

Bridge Interior

To end the maritime display, here's a view from the bridge of the Frigate that was docked near our ferry departure point.

Quite an interesting view

Will do a quick update of the last round at the airshow in the next post (wow, it's June already)

SSLee