Military History | How To Make War | Wars Around the World Rules of Use How to Behave on an Internet Forum
Korea Discussion Board
   Return to Topic Page
Subject: ROKN Patrol Corvette sucken by DPRK torpedo boat
YelliChink    3/26/2010 12:10:07 PM
Just happened 2150 Korean local time. Chinese reports say that it was DPRK torpedo boat. The ROKN corvette sunk is probably a 1200t PCC. I can't read Korean so I am not sure which one exactly. At this moment, 59 out of 104 crew have been saved so far. Best wishes to the still missing ones and condolence to families of lost sailors.
 
Quote    Reply

Show Only Poster Name and Title     Newest to Oldest
VelocityVector       4/1/2010 4:40:52 PM

I am surprised that a seafaring, modern nation on continuous war-footing like S. Korea thus far has been unable to insert military and commercial divers equipped with gear that is suited to cold water and extended bottom time at 40 meter depth into the area where Cheonan went down.  I appreciate the local weather and sea conditions have been severe, and the distance from the mainland, but S. Korea shouldn't have lost a brave diver to decompression sickness, apparent, in water that "shallow."  Recreational divers on Lake Superior dive wrecks deeper in water just as cold and they do just fine and without elaborate support, though there are several recompression chambers nearby.  0.02

v^2

 
Quote    Reply

gf0012-aust       4/1/2010 4:42:50 PM
it would be far more practical to simply declare that for reasons of national security, there will be no info made public or confirmed until the investigation was concluded
and that's the punch line.  a decent military media liasison officer would have just trotted that out immediately.  the general public might get grumpy and that wouldn't stop the hounds running, but people would understand and probably begrudgingly respect it.

on the other hand, you have other examples like how Defence handles APA in australia.  They're generally ignored because they're regarded as loons and the general media have also recognised them as such.  That doesn't stop them from trotting out crackpot theories and spamming web sites and fellow conspiracy blog sites. 

defence orgs operate in an imperfect world and effective media management is rarely business that they do well. :)
 
Quote    Reply

VelocityVector       4/1/2010 5:33:39 PM

Hey, 130 rounds of 76mm fired at a flock of birds invites speculation.  Ditto for conflicting reports by eyewitnesses and high government officials/military.  Coincident regional and world events invite it.  If something looks like a duck, waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck odds are it's a duck (but may not be "fowl" at all in actuality).  No doubt a link to the dispositive report will be published here; but until then ... ;>)

v^2

 
Quote    Reply

SantaClaws       4/1/2010 7:28:06 PM
Oh, and don't blame me for your mystical ways and assuming we are to automatically know what you are implying with vague references to previous ship sinkings that have nothing to do with what happened in Korea. But, by all means go ahead and enlighten us instead of making us guess.
 
Quote    Reply

SantaClaws       4/1/2010 7:47:36 PM
Oh, and don't blame me for your mystical ways and assuming we are to automatically know what you are implying with vague references to previous ship sinkings that have nothing to do with what happened in Korea. But, by all means go ahead and enlighten us instead of making us guess.
 
Quote    Reply

VelocityVector       4/1/2010 8:12:54 PM

I think DA was only suggesting that it's entirely possible the ship's hull breached from contacting a wreck or natural object, rapidly filled with water and snapped its spine.  Me, I suspect the NorKs meticulously scripted the event based on years of observation and planning.  When the little flotilla changed course for behind the island the NorKs dispatched one of their stealthy semi-submersibles based in the area (reportedly they have 20-some stationed nearby) which sprinted under radar cover of the island to a set firing position and submerged with only a periscope and whip above the waves.  Shore-based surveillance may have contributed.  Ships rounded the island and the NorK boat launched a single passive homer that crept at quiet speed toward the predict point, picked up the engine or prop noise and then struck and shattered the keel.  The NorK boat waited, saw another ship heading its way, popped up, sprinted for friendly waters and fired-off decoys at intervals, which blew around in the winds.  Sokcho felt it had enough information to open fire and shot up the "birds."  The untouched NorK boat sped to the coastline where it masked and worked its way back, at night, to the staging area/pen.  Very Clancy-esque and far more intriguing than hull breach.  And not any less likely at this point in time given the other scenarios speculated upon.  The NorK/Iranian semi-submersibles/speedboats are a really difficult problem to counter in the enemy's backyard.  A Cheonan-type event is exactly what those boats were designed to accomplish.  0.02

v^2

 
Quote    Reply

Reactive    Surprise surprise..    4/1/2010 8:19:18 PM
Military insiders believe there is mounting evidence that the Navy corvette Cheonan was hit by a North Korean torpedo before it broke in two and sank in waters near the de-facto inter-Korean border. But the Defense Ministry and military authorities insist on the importance of establishing the exact cause of the incident before any conclusions are announced.

A senior military officer on Thursday said, "There is a 60 to 70 percent chance that the ship was hit" by a North Korean torpedo. But he added the question remains whether any evidence was left behind.

He based his speculation on indications that the ship was sunk by an external explosion and that a torpedo was in his view a more likely cause than an old mine from the days of the Korean War, a possibility that has also been floated.

When he visited Baeknyeong Island near the scene of accident on Tuesday, President Lee Myung-bak asked Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Kim Sung-chan whether there would be identifiable traces left behind in a mine explosion, and Kim said it is hard to tell but there is also the possibility of a torpedo attack. Kim added it is fairly certain that the ship's ammunition storage did not blow up.
 
Quote    Reply

warpig       4/1/2010 8:29:06 PM

Military insiders believe there is mounting evidence that the Navy corvette Cheonan was hit by a North Korean torpedo before it broke in two and sank in waters near the de-facto inter-Korean border. But the Defense Ministry and military authorities insist on the importance of establishing the exact cause of the incident before any conclusions are announced.

A senior military officer on Thursday said, "There is a 60 to 70 percent chance that the ship was hit" by a North Korean torpedo. But he added the question remains whether any evidence was left behind.

He based his speculation on indications that the ship was sunk by an external explosion and that a torpedo was in his view a more likely cause than an old mine from the days of the Korean War, a possibility that has also been floated.

When he visited Baeknyeong Island near the scene of accident on Tuesday, President Lee Myung-bak asked Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Kim Sung-chan whether there would be identifiable traces left behind in a mine explosion, and Kim said it is hard to tell but there is also the possibility of a torpedo attack. Kim added it is fairly certain that the ship's ammunition storage did not blow up.

 


Then I hope the ROKN is ready to sortie, and the ROKAF has their ATOs worked up for the first several days of reprisals.  Anything less is pathetic.

 
Quote    Reply

SantaClaws       4/1/2010 9:08:18 PM
At that point it becomes a question of whether or not the South Koreans are willing to bear the brunt of war on their doorsteps. It would cost them a lot, maybe more than it would be going to war over.
 
Quote    Reply

VelocityVector       4/1/2010 9:23:41 PM

If my supposition is somewhat correct, the NorKs probably perceived their attack as a justified reprisal.  Now Kim Light has been summoned to China for a haircutting appointment, i.e., a trim down of his ego, apparently.  The real "winners" are the Iranians, as they have taken delivery of NorK semi-submersibles that can be used to strike tankers off the Iranian coast, near drilling rigs and transport lanes etc.  The platform is now combat-proven under comparable conditions, excepting naval presence and maritime surveillance conditions, and the oil markets and exporters will pay heed.  South Korea won't do a darn thing unless they know or come to know more than they are letting on now in terms of clear and convincing evidence that can be submitted to shape world opinion.  If they carry out reprisals, they become the aggressor, as with Israel and its backyard problems.  The South will do nothing unless the North piles on and the Chinese appear to be nipping that prospect in the bud.

v^2

 
Quote    Reply



 Latest
 News
 
 Most
 Read
 
 Most
 Commented
 Hot
 Topics