Cascade General Begins Work on Ship Conversion for Thai Navy

On July 16, the former United States Navy frigate USS Ouellet (FF-1077), arrived at Cascade General Shipyard in Portland, Oregon, USA, to begin a $14 million conversion and recommission for her new owners, the Royal Thai Navy.

Work to be performed by Cascade General on the 440-foot (134 m) Knox-Class frigate will include system reactivations, electronic and equipment upgrades and repairs to the boilers, pumps, propulsion systems, stabilizer and rudder. The reactivation will also include drydocking and coating. The vessel was built in 1970 at Avondale Shipyards in Louisiana and remained in active duty until 1991. She will be re-christened the HTMS Phutthaloetla Naphalai (FF-462).

According to Bill Wheeler, Vice President of Government Programs, Cascade General is one of a select number of repair yards contracted to activate ships through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NavSea). "This is the fourth vessel we are reactivating as part of this program," Wheeler explained. The previous conversions completed by Cascade General were vessels destined for the governments of New Zealand and The Republic of South Korea.

"Our people have performed well on past FMS contracts - we've been able to apply our commercial repair experience to this specialized area and the combination has been quite effective," Wheeler commented.

Wheeler said later this year a Thai crew will arrive for an extended stay in Portland to be trained in the operation of the modernized vessel. Work on the Phutthaloetla Naphalai is expected to continue into spring of 1998, and will generate an average of 175 jobs per day during this period. Wheeler said just about all the trades at Portland Shipyard will be involved in the modernization effort, including pipefitters, machinists, carpenters, blasters and painters. Technical support will be provided by Lockheed Martin for weapons and electronic system upgrades.

The Royal Thai Navy is the largest naval presence in Southeast Asia with a force of 66,000 - 20,000 of which are marines. The Phutthaloetla Naphalai is the most recent in a series of vessel acquisitions made by the Thai government and the second Knox-class vessel purchased by Thailand.

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Cascade General operates Portland Shipyard, the largest and most complete ship repair and industrial facility on the West Coast of the United States. We provide full-service repairs and conversions for tankers, cruise ships, bulk carriers, container ships, government vessels, tugs, barges and workboats. Cascade General's Portland facility includes a 60-acre (24.2 ha) yard, 550,000 square feet (51,096 square meters) of craft shops, more than 7,600 ft. (2,326 meters) of full-service repair berths, and two floating dry docks.