A small aircraft/helicopter carrier built in Spain – derived from the Spanish Dedalo – which in turn was derived from the USN Sea Control Ship concept from the 1970s. Now just a helicopter carrier, as Thailand no longer operates the harriers.Technically not a museum ship, Chakri is still in commission, and apparently goes to sea occasionally – but the rest of the time she stays alongside in Sittahip where she is open for visitors – in fact she is such a permanent fixture that there are road signs giving directions to her!I was getting conflicting messages about her being open to visitors, so I went down to chance my arm. She is at a military jetty in Sattahip – about an hour south of Pattaya, and I had to drive through one military checkpoint, and walk through another, to get to her – but was waved through both. But when I got to the gangway, I was stopped. The language barrier was pretty acute, but it appears she may only be open to visits by Thai nationals (who were going aboard freely when I was there) – however I was welcome to take photos of her from the wharf. There was also a naval tanker and a frigate berthed on the same jetty – but I don’t think they were open to any visitors at all.
