The navy showcased the medical capabilities of a newly acquired supply vessel yesterday shortly after it formally took delivery of the craft, which is expected to enhance Taiwan’s combat capabilities at sea, as well as its ability to provide humanitarian assistance.
The Panshih was formally delivered to the navy by local shipbuilder CSBC in a ceremony at Kaohsiung Port yesterday.
The navy opened the new vessel to the media shortly after the ceremony to give people a closer look at its medical facilities.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
There is a small hospital on the ship that includes an operating theater, a dental room, three regular wards and an isolation ward. It is stocked with advanced equipment, such as endoscopy devices and mobile X-ray machines.
The hospital would provide medical services for Tawian’s military personnel and would also be able to offer treatment for disaster victims when it is deployed on international humanitarian aid missions, the navy said.
In order to provide a better quality of life for servicemen and women and officers on board, there is a gym and a social room where they can watch TV when they are off duty.
Having received the Panshih, the navy said it would now begin training personnel to familiarize them with the craft before formally entering the ship into service.
The vessel would be used to transport fuel, ammunition and other supplies to naval vessels in the event of war.
In peacetime, it is mainly to be used to carry supplies, conduct maritime rescue missions and provide humanitarian assistance, the navy said.
Currently, the navy only has one supply vessel in service, the Wuyi.
Captain Cheng Nai-pin (鄭乃斌), who will be the first captain of the Panshih, praised the vessel’s mobility, stability and ability to travel long distances and carry large amounts of supplies.
“We also have advanced medical equipment to provide better medical services than the Wuyi,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony. “The Panshih is also more stable than the Wuyi.”
Despite its supply and support functions, the ship is also well armed to maintain a certain level of defense capabilities, a navy official said.
The weapons on the Panshih include the Phalanx close-in weapons system, a 20mm Gatling gun and short-range Sea Chaparral surface-to-air missile, the official said.
Commissioned by the navy, CSBC began construction of the Panshih in 2011, and the vessel was christened in November 2013. It cost NT$4.09 billion (US$130.1 million) to build, according to the navy.
It was named after Panshih Mountain in Hualien County. The words suggest a sturdy and unwavering foundation.
The new vessel is 196m long and 25.2m wide, can take a crew of up to 165 and has a range of 8,000 nautical miles (14,816km).
It can reach a maximum speed of 22 knots (40.74kph) and has a load displacement of about 20,000 tonnes (18,143 tonnes) and a light displacement of about 10,000 tonnes (9071 tonnes).
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
STRATEGIC MISTAKE: Beijing’s deployment of aircraft near Taiwan proves the ‘China threat theory’ that sees it attempting to destabilize the region, an analyst said China on Saturday and yesterday sent a record number of military aircraft into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in what analysts said was an attempt to flex its military might for US President Joe Biden. Thirteen Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ on Saturday and 15 entered yesterday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. On Saturday, eight Xian H-6K bombers, four Shenyang J-16 fighters and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, entered the ADIZ, while yesterday there were two Y-8s, two Su-30s, four J-16s, six J-10 fighters and a Y-8 reconnaissance
DISPOSING MYTHS: A new constitution would better reflect reality, as the current one was drafted ‘in and for China,’ without the consent of Taiwanese, advocates said Independence advocates yesterday launched the Taiwan New Constitution Alliance to promote drafting a new, localized constitution. “This is a historic moment for Taiwan. Drafting a new constitution is the most important task Taiwanese face,” veteran independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said at the inaugural event in Taipei. “Although the Democratic Progressive Party is in power, its authority is based on the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution, which has no connection to Taiwan,” said the 95-year-old Koo, a former presidential adviser. “The historic task of drafting a new constitution depends on efforts by all Taiwanese,” Koo said. “A constitution for a sovereign, independent Taiwan
RSS