_underway.jpg) RSS Panglima underway in the Singapore Strait
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Panglima |
| Operator | Royal Navy |
| Builder | United Engineers Ltd |
| Laid down | 1954 |
| Launched | 14 January 1956 |
| Commissioned | May 1956 |
| Fate | Transferred to Malaysia |
.svg){kind=small} Malaysia | |
| Name | KD Panglima |
| Operator | Royal Malaysian Navy |
| Commissioned | 22 September 1963 |
| Fate | Transferred to Singapore |
 Singapore | |
| Name | RSS Panglima |
| Operator | Republic of Singapore Navy |
| Commissioned | 1 January 1966 |
| Decommissioned | 9 July 1991 |
| Identification | Pennant number: P68 |
| Fate | Sold to New West Coast Pte Ltd |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Ford-class boat |
| Length | 35.7 m (117 ft) |
| Beam | 6.1 m (20 ft) |
| Propulsion | 820 kW |
| Speed | 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Range | 3,000 miles (4,800 km) |
| Complement | 49 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
|
RSS Panglima (P68) was the first ship of the Republic of Singapore Navy. The ship was commissioned in 1956 as HMS Panglima and was the third ship to be given the name. She was regarded as a milestone for the Malayan shipbuilding industry. During her Royal Navy service, the ship hosted distinguished guests such as South Vietnamese vice president Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ and Singapore's first native head of state the Yang di-Pertuan Negara Yusof bin Ishak. She also embarked on numerous goodwill visits to nearby ports and conducted naval training for new sailors.
Upon Singapore's merger to form Malaysia, the ship was recommissioned as KD Panglima in September 1962. She engaged in several minor skirmishes with Indonesia during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. Singapore's secession on 9 August 1965 led to the ship's recommissioning as RSS Panglima in January 1966.
The ship underwent a major refit prior to being transferred to Midshipman School in 1983 to serve exclusively as a training ship. In 1991, she was decommissioned and sold at auction, after having served in three navies across 35 years of active service. The Naval Military Experts Institute still bears her name today.