Myanmar commissions submarine, warships on 73rd Navy Day

Myanmar’s navy — Tatmadaw Yay — marked its 73rd anniversary on 24 December with the commissioning of its first submarine along with two 63 m anti-submarine ships, a 49 m attack craft, a 56 m landing vessel, and two 26 m tugboats.

The highlight of this year’s event was the long-anticipated commissioning of the Kilo-class submarine, UMS Minye Thainkhathu with pennant 71 (ex-INS Sindhuvir ). The submarine was transferred from the Indian Navy earlier this year after completing an extensive refit in late-2019.

The commissioning ceremony was attended by Indian and Russian ambassador’s to Myanmar along with senior officers from the Indian Navy’s Eastern Naval command. The presence of senior Indian and Russian officials suggests that the submarine transfer was facilitated by the Russians.

The pair of 63 m anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships bear the names and pennants of former Type 037 ASW patrol craft — Yan UMS Nyein Aung (443) and Yan Ye Aung (446).

The new vessels were built at the Naval Dockyard in Thanlyin and launched in late-2018 and 2019 respectively. These waterjet powered vessels have an overall length of about 66 m although the hull itself is about 63 m long with a beam of around 9 m.

They are fitted with a variety of gun mounts that are found on Chinese built Type 037 patrol vessels including twin 57 mm and 25 mm gun mounts, two five-barreled ASW rocket launchers, and two triple torpedo tube launchers. The new boats are also fitted with a hull mounted sonar whose provenance has been described as either Indian or Israeli by industry sources.