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In recent years, the ROK Navy has been the loudest slogan shouted by the ROK Navy, and the propaganda film of the ROK Naval Academy, which is known as the "soul of the navy," regards the phrase "ocean navy" as a "mantra," regardless of the large ships that are often sent abroad for ocean-going training exercises. However, since the mysterious sinking of the "Cheonan" anti-submarine frigate in 2010, the ROK Navy suddenly found that it still had outstanding shortcomings in coastal and coastal operations, especially in the face of the so-called "main enemy" of the DPRK Navy, the seemingly powerful ROK Navy still lacked sufficiently effective anti-submarine warfare and mine warfare capabilities.
South Korean minelayer ship of the Nampo-class class
The threat of mine warfare to South Korea
On May 27, 2015, South Korea's Vice Minister of Defense Lee Yong-jie came to Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard to preside over the launching ceremony of the domestically produced mine-laying support ship "Nampo". The ship is based on the South Korean Navy's "Future Frigate Program" (FFX, whose product is the "Incheon" class corvette) as the platform, and combines the requirements of the MLS-II minelaying (sweeping) support ship project for "upgrade design", with the aim of improving the South Korean Navy's ability to carry out "minelaying in front of enemy lines" and "minesweeping in fast lanes".
South Korean military experts said that at present, 48 countries in the world have the capability of laying mines along the coast, and 31 countries can manufacture mines, indicating that in the event of future armed conflicts, the application of mine warfare in coastal areas will greatly increase than before. Taking the United States as an example, 14 of the 18 warship injuries that occurred to the US Navy after World War II were caused by mine attacks. Mines, which are generally considered to be the "second-best weapon", usually cause the most damage in littoral combat.
As far as the Korean Peninsula is concerned, in particular, although the coastline of the DPRK and the ROK is long, there are relatively limited sections that are truly suitable for large and medium-sized ships to dock and sail, so it is very necessary to develop mine-sweeping capabilities. In addition, the "mine deterrence" that occurred in Wonsan in 1950 taught the ROK Navy a lesson, when the Korean People's Army intensively laid more than 3,000 mines off the coast of Wonsan Port in advance, hindering the powerful US landing fleet for 10 days, becoming a classic example in the history of mine warfare. Today, rapid minelaying is still a key combat capability of the DPRK Navy, and the ROK Navy naturally does not dare to take it lightly.
South Korea's only large minelayer ship currently in service, the USS Wonsan
Be "straightforward" with your heart
At present, the ROK Navy has only deployed the 521st and 522nd minesweeping teams in the 1st and 2nd fleets respectively, but only the 521st squadron in the direction of the Sea of Japan is equipped with a minelaying ship called "Wonsan" It is the only large ship in the ROK Navy that can conduct integrated mine warfare, because the other minesweepers equipped by the ROK Navy are small boats of several hundred tons.
Interestingly, the "Wonsan", which was built in the 90s of the 20th century, was supposed to have two other sister ships, but because it coincided with the Asian financial crisis, the South Korean Navy was affected by budget cuts and was forced to cut the construction of the latter two.
What is more intriguing is that the ROK Navy rarely names its capital ships after North Korean place names, unless it has some kind of definite operational orientation and military deterrence intent, while the ROK Navy's two minelaying ships "Dumiao" are both named after the two famous ports in the east and west of the DPRK.
The "Wonsan" ship, which is carrying out minelaying operations, can see the minelaying hatch with the tail open
Strong ability to lay mines
Judging from the data released by Hyundai Heavy Industry, the "Nanpu" is 114 meters long, 17.2 meters wide, has a draft of 4.61 meters, a full load displacement of 4,200 tons, a maximum speed of 23 knots, a cruising range of 4,500 nautical miles / 15 knots, and a crew of 120 people. The power system is 4 diesel engines with more than 22,000 horsepower and two-shaft drive. The ship is equipped with an Otto single-barreled 76-mm compact naval gun, two double-barreled Breda 40-mm guns, two triple MK32 324-mm torpedo tubes, and four missile vertical launch units (which can launch the "Improved Sea Sparrow" ship-to-air missile), and a "Perfect Eagle" medium multi-role helicopter produced by Korean Hangzi can take off and land on the rear deck.
Judging from the data on paper, the "Nanpu" has a relatively strong ability to act independently in the near sea and even in the far sea, and can be used to carry out offensive minelaying against the enemy's key shipping lanes and ports, and to blockade and paralyze the enemy's freedom of military and civilian action at sea. Judging from the ship's armament, its own firepower obviously exceeds that of the DPRK Navy's large number of high-speed torpedo boats and gunboats, and it is theoretically capable of approaching North Korean waters to carry out tactical missions.
In order to ensure the ability to lay mines, the ship has set up a warehouse for storing mines for training and actual combat from the swollen section to the stern on both sides, adopts a new automatic mine handling and delivery device, and puts it through the hatches on both sides of the stern, and there are three landing slides in each hatch, a total of six, so the minelaying efficiency is far from being comparable to that of small ships, and it can deploy more than 300 mines in a short time. Not only can traditional anchor mines be laid, but also more advanced self-propelled mines and improved "rapid attack mines" can be used, especially the "rapid attack mines" that can be used in shallow waters, in fact, they are derived from American-made aerial bombs, which are 500 pounds of MK62 mines and 1,000 pounds of MK63 mines, and are equipped with a variety of target detection devices, all of which are sunken mines, which can be better aimed at target ships, and can even use remote control devices to remotely control mine turns, which have strong concealment and combat capability. It is possible to aim well at the target ship, and even use a remote control device to remotely control the turn of a mine, which has strong concealment and combat capability.
The "Nampo" class minesweeper was developed on the basis of the "Incheon" class corvette, so the two look relatively similar in appearance
It can be used to lay mines and sweep mines
It should be emphasized that the "Nampo" plays the role of "blockade of the North Korean gateway" on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also wants to prevent the South Korean own gateway from being "retaliated blockade" by the DPRK. Therefore, the ship borrows the concept of a Japanese minesweeper support ship, and is equipped with complete mine combat command, communication and support facilities, in addition to the command headquarters cabin, but also for underwater explosives operators with living facilities and perfect high-pressure medical equipment. If it is carrying out defensive mine-sweeping operations, the "Nanpu" ship will have stocks of fuel, fresh water, food, and spare parts, as well as mine-sweeping cable throughput wheels and storage warehouses for various mine-clearing tools.
In addition, the "Nanpu" can also serve as a "support mothership" for the "Jinshan" and "Yangyang" class minesweepers. Because minesweeping is an extremely complicated work, in the face of sinking mines, tethered mines, and drifting mines, they all need different means of sweeping mines, and it is also necessary to prepare special mine-sweeping tools for magnetic, water pressure, or acoustic induction mines, and it is difficult for small and medium-sized mine-sweeping ships to carry a wide variety of mine-sweeping equipment at the same time; if they sweep mines along the coast or near the coast of their own country, of course, they will be supported by shore bases, but once the mine-sweeping field is extended to the waters outside the country's periphery, they will need strong support ships as their backing, and the "Nanpu" can play such a role.
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epilogue
In recent years, in order to promote the Asia-Pacific "rebalance" strategy, the US Navy has not only increased the number of minesweepers deployed in Japan's Sasebo port to four, but also strongly urged Japan, South Korea, Australia, and other military allies to enhance their mine warfare capabilities and ensure the smooth flow of sea lines of communication. In this sense, the launching of the "Nanpu" can be regarded as another step forward in the development of joint combat capability by the US-led implicit military alliance in the Asia-Pacific region.