Sea Tigers' Mangkai Women Boat Building Unit and Stealth 16' boats

[நன்னிச் சோழன்]

Author: Vaakai

Via: Thesaththinkural magazine, 03/2022

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A Stealth boat is a type of vessel that is especially used as a war vessel, and it employs Stealth technology construction techniques in an effort to ensure that time is hard to detect by one or more radar, visual, sonar, and infrared methods. The main detectors that find out whether a Navy vessel of an enemy is in the oceanic water are the sander, the radar, and the infrared. Stealth boats are designed in such a way that they are invisible, but unlike a Navy ship, which is not, it gives a very big boost and advantage to the stealth boat to launch an attack.

These techniques borrow from stealth aircraft technology.

The earliest known Ship to incorporate stealth technology is the US Navy Sea Shadow. It was completed in the mid-80s, but the public got its first view in 1993.

Which was eventually scrapped in 2006.

Our Tamil leaders, the Honourable P.V. Prabhakaran and Brigadier Soosai, were attracted by the F117A stealth fighter and decided to build their own stealthy speedboat with a low profile.

The Mangai boatyard, which was founded in 1993 and established under the direct observation of the LTTE Leader and the direct guidance of the Sea Tiger leader,

In early 1998, the Mangai boat yard's design and model/plug building yard started the construction of a stealth 16‘ in the Vanni jungle, several miles away from the sea.

The major feature that is taken into account while constricting a stealth boat is the right angle, which is designed in such a way that it deflects and reflects the radar, and the infrared rays that hit this reflecting surface are known as the radar cross-section. By not constricting the boat with any right angles, such deflection and emerging are avoided, making the vessel a stealth boat.

Distinctive low and wide wing-like structure designed to help lift the heavy bow section out of the water during high speed; the upper surface is angular with a ridge along the bow, lending to an open-topped cockpit.

The important thing is the stealth, which is designed, and the plug or model construction is done without any mechanical aids or devices. The sea tiger women have done freehand boat line drawing with their master‘s instruction.

8" model of a stealth 16‘ built out of plywood, checked the angles manually, and corrected them, then its final blueprint is ready for plug building.

The stealth 16‘ Hull is designed with Montego's patented Tunnel hull or tri-V hull. This design provides unusual comfort and excellent stability at high-performance speeds. When it comes to hull design, the most important concern is:

i. The centre of gravity is the point in a body where the gravitational force may be taken to act.

ii. The centre of buoyancy is the centre of gravity for the volume of water that a hull displaces.

When the hull is upright, the centre of gravity and centre of buoyancy are on the same vertical line, and the hull is stable. When the hull line drawings are ready, plug builders will check each line by drawing in the original measurements. After the corrections, the hull line drawings and blueprint will be finalised.

Building a boat plug is the first major step in fibreglass boat construction.

The boat-designed construction of the plug or model calls for the traditional skills of a boat builder; wood and plywood are the principal materials for construction. Though traditional skills are required, if carpenters will be made in terms of accuracy and quality of workmanship and require constant encouragement by an experienced technician, our sea tiger women who did with their Mastery (Mestiri//master carpenter)

Building the plug upside-down is normal, but in LTTE boat yards, they don‘t have a permanent place, so they have to build it strong and firm so it can be easily transported.

A Stealth 16‘ plug constructed together with the upper surface, canwall, and hull, which is an exact duplicate of the real boat, will be used once and thrown away.

It resembled an F117A stealth fighter.

The next step is to build the main structure of the fibreglass boat, which is the mould.

From here, all the construction was done by women only.

The plug will receive hand-sanding several times to make sure it is smooth enough to receive a layer of hard tooling gel coat, which eventually gives the polished surface when the mould is lifted. When the time comes to make the mould, the process is a faithful reproduction of the plug surface. The mould thickness is up to twice the finished hull thickness.

This layout gives the required dimensional stability once the mould has cured, with extra stability added and a mounting caste to allow it to be moved.

All this is done, the mould is released or removed from the plug, and then final hand sanding and polishing are done.

The Mother mould will be ready to be used for boat construction.

Once all the major construction is done, building a boat is not a big deal for the Mangai boatyard ladies.

The same team that built the mould also built the first stealth 16-foot boat. They consider it a small boat, which makes them construct it in just 25 days.

The only struggle when joining the canwall and hull is that of its unusual wing-like structure; they have to expose themselves to fibreglass mixtures that produce adhesive vapours. When inhaled, these fumes can lead to various respiratory issues.

The first stealth boat was named Thanikai (தணிகை) to honour Black Tiger captain Thanikai.

On top of the gel coat, the Thanikai stealth boat is painted with a lookalike eagle.

Then the Sea Tigers outboard motor technicians did the wiring, fixed the gearbox, and attached a single 200-hp outboard engine at the stern.

Mangai Boat Yard always gave an awesome send-off for their boats; they did the traditional Tamil Pongal, gave it a turmeric water bath, and put a garland on the bow.

Before it was dispatched, our honourable LTTE Leader visited, congratulated them, and appreciated the hard work of these lady fighters. Speaking to their Leader gave them confidence and made them feel empowered.

A stealth 16-foot Thanikai boat casts off in the Vadduvakal Sea. This super-stable speed hull design calculates the speed at 45–50 knots when it reaches its highest speed of 50–55 knots. The centre of gravity and the centre of buoyancy are on the same vertical line, and their stability never vanishes at any point when making a sudden turn. The stealth technology of their construction and their inherent low profile make them difficult to spot.

Stealth 16‘ was used as an explosive black tiger boat for many battles until the last war.

This is one successful stealthy design boat of LTTE, Which is 90% women-built boats.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by நன்னிச் சோழன்

[நன்னிச் சோழன்]

Two shapes of these Stealth 16' Boats used by Sea Tigers

 

These boats were called Kfir (Tamil: கவிர்/ Romanized: Kavir) class boats by the Navy of Tamil Eelam a.k.a. Sea Tigers of Liberation Tigers.

 

 

Type 1:

Mostly two-man crew (boater & radio operator who also act as an LMG gunner) during Sea Black Tiger attacks and sometimes one manned too. Less than 10 people could travel in it. They were also used during sea-borne special operation missions like marine attacks on Sri Lankan naval installations or infiltrations. 

This design was the most produced design of the stealth 16' in the Eealm Wars and the most used suicide vessel by Sea Tigers. 

These were produced from 1998 until the end of the Eelam War.

Images:

 

 

 

Type 2:

These were one-man-crew (boater alone) Sea Black Tigers' boats. Not much is known about this type. 

 

Edited February 25 by நன்னிச் சோழன்

[நன்னிச் சோழன்]

Stealth 23' boats of Sea Tigers

 

These shapes of the Stealth boats were not used during Sea Black Tigers' attacks. Nothing is known about them.

They are 23' long.

 

 

 

 

 

After being captured by SLM. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by நன்னிச் சோழன்

[நன்னிச் சோழன்]

The stealth boat is a product of the Mangai boat construction of the LTTE's Sea Tigers

 

 

The design of the boat started in accordance with the idea of our national leader and Soosai Anna that the Black Tigers' boat should be made invisible to the radar and with increased speed.

Mr. V Master brought an English magazine of that time to the model yard. It contained pictures of a stealth aircraft and some notes. stealth aircraft are specifically designed around stealth technology and it's invisible to RADAR. Yes, the plane will hide itself completely from the radar.

After looking at the picture, the map for the bow hull was drawn as a pointed hull design and the rear was drawn as a tunnel hull design. Then a small 8″ model of the bottom was made by the carpenter.

For that Gunwale; angles were made according to the shape of the aircraft, a small model was made on cardboard, how the angles refracted the radiation was observed using the torchlight light, and then it was corrected. Then a small model was made on the plywood. At that time there were no technical facilities or computer facilities

Under the guidance of Master V, the drawing section women fighters drew pictures for Stealth 16′.  'P carpenter' and four of his workmen along with model yard Women Fighters built the model using board and plywood in about a month. It was then docked to a fibreglass yard.

There the carpentry work for the mold was carried out with a team led by a woman fighter who had experience and skill in fiberglass work and a woman fighter who had gone from a model yard. After 20 days the mold is removed from the model. Then 3 days shan paper was put on it and it was ready for production.

The same crew also made the boat. In 25 days the first Stealth 16' was painted like a bird of prey and stood majestically named as Thanikai, a Sea Black Tiger named Captain Thanikai. After the technical section, the male fighters put the respective engine and did the wiring work and the boat work was completed.

Whenever a boat is to be moulded from any model (Only to the first of its kind) it is always sent off after a Pongal in the traditional Tamil style. Then the boat will be garlanded, coconut will be broken on the floor and a lamp is lit and then only it is sent away from the yard. They did the same to the 'Thanikai' boat too.

Our national leader and Soosai Anna came to see the beautiful boat in the evening. Anna, who was happy to see Stealth 16', asked the boat builders of this boat to go up to Velottam (the first entry of any boat into the water body) as well.

The Velloottam of the Thanikai boat took place in the Vattuvagal Sea (in Mullaitivu) with the boat builders.

Estimated speed with and without load. Hull design calculates the speed at 45–50 knots when it reaches its highest speed of 50–55 knots. The main factor to be considered while designing a boat is the 'Center of Buoyancy and Center of Gravity'. Both of these should come on the same line. This is very rare. But for Stealth 16' both centers are 3′ 6″ away from the rear so it rotates 360°. It also completely hid itself from the radar

It is a successful product of Sea Tigers.

Our salute to Lt. Col. Soba and Lt. Col. Sudarmani, who participated in the mould and production of the Thanikai boat from the construction of the boat to the final battle.

 

 

Author: Mangai Boat Building Unit 

Source: https://eelavarkural.wordpress.com/2020/10/13/seatigers-boat/

Translated from Tamil by: Nanni Chozhan (with the help of Google Translate).

 

Edited March 1 by நன்னிச் சோழன்