Underwater construction teams from the US, Republic of Korea and Royal Thai navies got together on the Thung Prong Bay Sattahip Navy Base in Thailand as part of the 37th annual exercise Cobra Gold, which ends February 23.
“We are here to perform underwater inspection techniques and also to talk about maintenance plans,” said Construction Mechanic 1st Class Matthew Ramirez, from Uniondale, New York.
The main operation of the day for the UCTs was the inspection for the deterioration of Thrung Prong Pier, which was originally built in the 1970s and was rebuilt for the first time last year.
“The UCTs completely rebuilt Thrung Prong in 2017, in which they put 377 sacrificial anodes on the pier [used to protect submerged metal structures from corrosion], and we are here to measure the rate of deterioration on those anodes,” said Ramirez. “Since the pier was built, it has been used for various purposes, ammo offloads, mooring, getting supplies on and off the base and basically enabling the Royal Thai Navy to be a little bit more efficient since it has been built.”
The UCT members are also going to be preparing for a possible future rebuild of the DeLong Pier during Cobra Gold 18, according to the US Navy.
“The DeLong Pier was built in the 1960s,” said Ramirez. “It’s an ammo offload pier that the U.S forces built, and right now it is dilapidated, so we are here to make some measurements and create a possible demolition plan for a future project.”
ROK Navy Lieutenant Donghyua Oh, from Jinhae Naval Base said that the Thai, ROK and US UCT personnel working together strengthens the nation’s alliances exponentially.
Cobra Gold 18 is an annual exercise conducted in the Kingdom of Thailand and runs from Feb. 13-23 with seven full participating nations.