Overseas Training






The sea training

At the end of every year's classes, all naval cadets have to join a sea training for 45 days. The sea training will make naval cadets good navy officers to serve in all squadrons of the Royal Thai Navy, because of a lot of practise and exercises every day and every night during the course.

Saying, “Join the Navy to see the world” is really true for all naval cadets. Every year, we called on many countries in South-East Asia, such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia en Singapore, and other regions like China and Sri Lanka. But, before we reached each country, we had to work hard during the cruise at sea. We had to rise and shine in the early morning, especially the third-year and fourth-year cadets, because we had to grab our sextant to measure the angles of the stars to calculate and find the position of the ship in the open see from about 04:30 am till dawn.

The first-year cadets had to learn and got training about being good at seamanship, learning how to control the helm, how to use the mooring lines and how to stay alive during a bad day.

The second-year cadets practiced propulsion systems, electrical systems and damage control. Also, the first-year and second-year cadets had to clean the main deck at least 5 times a day and they had to run all the time when they were there.

The third-year and the fourth-year cadets had to learn about how to navigate safely to complete the mission, how to use the ship's weapons and how to fight with a good strategy. Moreover, all naval cadets had to be on watch or duty for 10 hours every day. Although it was a hard time for us, it made us alert all the time.

Written by Poseidon, November 2005


Naval cadet training

Every year naval cadets must follow a sea training. When we were first-year naval cadets, the naval cadet Fleet Training Unit went to Malaysia, Singapore and Nicobar Islands (India). The first-year cadets trained seamanship, such as cleaning the ship, endurance and long-distance swimming. We practiced shooting ship guns, learned about weapon systems, Morse code, flag signals etc. The naval cadets train for perfection, so that we are ready for anything. After passing all exercises and hard trainings, we will be stronger than ordinary untrained people, physically, mentally and spiritually.

One year later, when we were second-year cadets, we went to Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Why did we go to Sri Lanka? Because the country was flooded. We went to help. Our Naval Cadet Training Unit brought thousands of tons of rice to victims of the flooding. Naval cadets carried all those rice bags ashore by themselves. When the ship was underway, our training was mostly in the engine room. It was an engineering exercise. We got to know lots of engine systems and cooling systems. We became experts in damage control. We had a great experience to fight fire.

In the third year we had the last sea training in our naval cadets' life. Our training was in navigation. At the bridge house, we practiced how to order course changes, engine order, reading and using radar, and keep record of the sea wave levels for navigation support. We practiced search and rescue. We visited China, the Philippines, Brunei and Cambodia. We thought that the training was exciting. When we went to China, we had a storm at sea state 8. The Philippines was a great port because pubs and bars opened 24 hours. It was paradise for every crewmember. We had fun and were happy. And the last thing we want to tell you is, “Don't trust the sea; it can change all the time.”

Written by Dragon Five, November 2005


Last update: Humanities Department, March 2006.   Feedback