LANGKAWI: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today reviewed the fleet taking part in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition (Lima) 2019.
Sailing aboard the Royal Malaysian Navy hydrographic survey ship KD Perantau, the prime minister received the salute from 40 vessels - 17 from the Royal Malaysian Navy, five from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), the Marine Department's MV Polaris, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's RV Discovery and 16 ships from 12 countries participating in Lima 2019.
Dr Mahathir was join on board KD Perantau by Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu, Transport Minister Anthony Loke, Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, Royal Malaysian Navy chief Admiral Datuk Mohd Reza Mohd Sany and army chief General Datuk Seri Ahmad Hasbullah Mohd Nawawi, among others.
The Fleet Review is a naval tradition which allows participating ships to parade with pride. It is said to date back to the 15th century or earlier, and originally only occurred when a country's fleet was mobilised for war or for a show of strength to discourage potential enemies.
The first Fleet Review on record is generally accepted to have taken place in 1415, when the English king Henry V received the salute of his fleet before sailing for war in France. However, there are stories of a fleet review being held in 1346 by one of Henry's predecessors, Edward III, also before sailing off to war with France.
The RMN ships which took part in the review included the submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, the multi-role support ship KD Mahawangsa, frigates KD Lekiu and KD Jebat, corvettes KD Kasturi, KD Laksamana Hang Nadim, KD Laksamana Tan Pusmah, KD LaksamanTun Abd Jamil and KD Laksamana Muhamad Amin and training ships KD Teguh Samudera and KD Gagah Samudera.
Also in the review were the navy's sail training ship KLD Tunas Samudera, fast attack craft KD Ganyang and KD Pendekar, minehunter KD Mahamiru and submarine rescue ship MV Mega Bakti.
Meanwhile, the MMEA presented its offshore patrol vessel (OPV) KM Pekan, its new generation patrol craft KM Bagan Datuk and patrol craft KM Perwira, KM Marlin and KM Siangin.
The foreign vessels involved included Australian minehunter HMAS Diamantina, Bangladeshi frigate BNS Somudra Joy and OPV BCGS Syed Nazrul, another OPV in Brunei's KDB Daruttaqwa, the Chinese frigate CND Yue Yang, Indian anti-submarine frigate INS Kadmatt and two vessels from Indonesia, the landing platform dock KRI Banda Aceh and the fast missile boat KRI Halasan.
Also in the review were the Japanese destroyer JS Asagiri, Korean fast combat support ship ROKS Soyang, the OPV SLNS Sagara from Sri Lanka, Thai frigate HTMS Kraburi and OPV HTMS Longlom, United States Navy amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge and destroyer USS Preble and the frigate VPN Ly Thai To from Vietnam.
Nine helicopters were also involved in a fly-past during the Fleet Review.
These were the RMN's Super Lynx and Fennec (two each), the MMEA's AW-139 and Dauphin (one each), Police Air Wing's AW-139 and AS-355 (one each) and an Indian Navy Chetak, a seven-seater helicopter produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.