Thread: Thai Navy Museum

Is it possible to take a river ferry from Sapan Taksin all the way down to the museum?

Great thread Hillbilly. Hope you don't mind if I tag some additional info on rather than start a new thread. According to the following article the ship,
HTMS Maeklong was commisioned from Japanese shipyards, pre WW 2. :

Phra Chulachomklao Fort - Samut Prakan (Paknam) ?????????????????? (???????????)





As the article says, its possible to get to the museum via public bus and is a nice way to spend the day. ( Bus no 20 apparently ... air con ) The onsight restaurant which overlooks the estuary is also very pleasant and a good place for lunch and a beer.

Also on the grounds of the museum is an elevated mangrove walkway which you can roam along after you've had a bite to eat :











All in all, well worth a day out. The first time I went here you could take a car down to Bang na , turn right to the river and take the car ferry across but its easily accessible by one of the new bridges now.

By the way, Qwerty went to the other Naval museum and his map if for that one. To get to the one on the mouth of the estuary click on the link I gave and there is a another map. On Qwerts map it is marked as Phra Chulachomklao fort.

Originally Posted by Happyman

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Now we go to the cannons which is on the right of the original entrance photo.

The guns look like Armstrong 'Disappearing' Guns- didn't know there were any still left !

You can see that the muzzle is below the level of the breastwork surrounding it.

All settings range , elevation, and loading were performed at this level,and the gun was raised - the long arms (you can see the right one) were hydraulically operated - above the breast work and fired .

The recoil released the hydraulic pressure and the gun lowered to the original position !

Raise - fire - lower , took about 45 seconds!!

Reload was 2 minutes !

They were a sensation in their day !

Armstrong put a lot of effort in selling these in Asia and the anti-pirate forts in Taiwan and Malaysia ( Borneo ) all had them !

I will have to go there and have a good look !

PS The earlier models were smooth bore but the later ones had 3 deep rifling grooves in the barrel and the projectile had pegs sticking out that fitted into these grooves !!!

Still have 4 of this type of gun on Mt Victoria Devonport,Auckland.
They have been restored along with tunnels and battlements.
Built for the Russian scare in 1890.

A video of the gun emplacements :

Originally Posted by qwerty

OK, inspired by Hillbilly's visit I packed my wife and stepson into a taxi yesterday and headed off to the Thai Naval Museum!

http://www.navy.mi.th/navalmuseum/index_eng.htm

I sometimes do work for the Royal Thai Navy in Sattahip on their aircraft carrier. When I am finished working I have to travel to the base where this museum is to inform the Admiral in charge of Naval Exectronics department of what I found wrong, what I did to correct the problem, any outstanding problems and any recommendation. Anyway, I always go here by a Thai navy driver and do not pay too much attention to where we are going. The last time I was there I tried to find this base and could not. I thought it was on the other side of the river.

Originally Posted by Nomaifalang

I sometimes do work for the Royal Thai Navy in Sattahip on their aircraft carrier. When I am finished working I have to travel to the base where this museum is to inform the Admiral in charge of Naval Exectronics department of what I found wrong, what I did to correct the problem, any outstanding problems and any recommendation. Anyway, I always go here by a Thai navy driver and do not pay too much attention to where we are going. The last time I was there I tried to find this base and could not. I thought it was on the other side of the river.

Yes, there are in fact two museums, one on each side of the estuary. If you read the thread carefully you will find links to both. To visit the warship , the mangove walk and the gun emplacements you need to be on the west bank of the river at Fort Chulachornklao.