The sinking of South Korean Corvette Cheonan

Spike

Banned Idiot
The Cheonan was taking part in a series of rolling exercises called Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, which continued in some shape or form from early March until late April.

Dozens of ships from both the South Korean Navy and USN were involved. Among the fleet were four Aegis ships: the USS Shiloh (CG-67), a 9,600-ton Ticonderoga class cruiser, the USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54), a 6,800-ton Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, the USS Lassen, a 9,200-ton Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer and Sejong the Great, a 8,500-ton South Korean guided-missile destroyer.

Although not confirmed, it would be unlikely that such a gathering would not be supported by USN Nuclear Subs and the ROK's own type 214.
How many friendly ships were nearby when this attack occurred? And could you provide a link to this information regarding the ships you listed? Thanks in advance. :)
 

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
Interesting how this is another case where their sensors didn't detect a sub nor a torpedo. And why does that always seem to happen in places where you'd figure they would be on some state of alertness?
 

Pointblank

Senior Member
Interesting how this is another case where their sensors didn't detect a sub nor a torpedo. And why does that always seem to happen in places where you'd figure they would be on some state of alertness?

Area is notoriously poor for ASW conditions, and the Cheonan only has a hull-mounted sonar. A very dated sonar with a poor reputation in littorals at that.
 

Finn McCool

Captain
Registered Member
Interesting how this is another case where their sensors didn't detect a sub nor a torpedo. And why does that always seem to happen in places where you'd figure they would be on some state of alertness?

In addition to what Pointblank said, hearing the sub doesn't necessarily mean that you have authorization to fire on it. It's unlikely, but perhaps they did hear the sub. Same thing as the Kitty Hawk incident.
 

rhino123

Pencil Pusher
VIP Professional
Oh... btw... has the survivors from the Choenan been interview or interrogate yet? Their statements might give some solid first hand information on how and what actually happen.
 

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
In addition to what Pointblank said, hearing the sub doesn't necessarily mean that you have authorization to fire on it. It's unlikely, but perhaps they did hear the sub. Same thing as the Kitty Hawk incident.

What about sounding the alarm hearing the torpedo coming at you? The surviving crew must have some account and it sounds like they didn't know anything until it happened. The Kitty Hawk incident was probably on the bottom of my list. There are a few other situations at time of conflict where those who should've saw "it" coming but didn't. Also they said they knew NK subs were in the area. Again... not on alert?
 
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Neutral Zone

Junior Member
Interesting how this is another case where their sensors didn't detect a sub nor a torpedo. And why does that always seem to happen in places where you'd figure they would be on some state of alertness?

That's a good question, you would expect a warship operating in that area to be on a high state of readiness, but even if you are it's no guarantee that you'll be able to detect and intercept/evade your attacker. I'm thinking of HMS Sheffield and USS Stark, two warships which were operating in combat zones yet through a combination of bad luck and human error were both caught cold by their attackers with fatal consequences.
 

SampanViking

The Capitalist
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP Professional
Registered Member
How many friendly ships were nearby when this attack occurred? And could you provide a link to this information regarding the ships you listed? Thanks in advance. :)

To be honest, I just loaded the name of the exercise into a few leading search engines and plowed through the results, there was no definitive article sadly just a large number of news reports. Repeat the exercise and you should find like wise.

The question though which remains unanswered is what would be in it for North Korea? They don't do things for no reason or no benefit. To be honest this whole thing just stinks of dodgy dossier mk x.

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The BBc have published pictures of the evidence and I would be grateful to hear from genuine old Sea Dogs about how quickly machine parts will corrode underwater.

By the way I agree with seven of your eight points S.Viking.

7 out of 8 makes a good day for me, I'll take it:D
 

ccL1

New Member
Well, North Korea does have some motive for this. They have been itching to retaliate against South Korea for nearly destroying one of their vessels in November of 2009. But it doesn't really matter, since North Korea has attacked South Korea many times since the war ended.

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South Korea's troops went on high alert Wednesday for possible retaliation by North Korea after one of its navy ships was nearly destroyed and an officer reportedly killed in a skirmish with the South, ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.

The clash Tuesday along the disputed western sea border was the first such engagement in seven years, sending tensions soaring about a week before Obama travels to Seoul as part of his Asian tour.

The exchange of fire also occurred just hours before the State Department announced a senior U.S. diplomat will travel to North Korea before year's end to try to entice North Korea back into international negotiations on nuclear disarmament. The dispatch of envoy Stephen Bosworth would mark the first direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang since Obama took office in January.

South Korean officials said the North Korean ship was on fire and heavily damaged following a two-minute skirmish off the west coast – the scene of two bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002. The South Korean ship was only lightly damaged and there were no South Korean causalities, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

South Korea's mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper and other media reported that one North Korean officer was believed killed and three other sailors wounded. President Lee Myung-bak ordered his Defense Minister Kim Tae-young to strengthen military readiness.

Late Tuesday, Kim said in parliament that he believed the North may take retaliatory action. "The president also has such concerns," Kim said.
 

adeptitus

Captain
VIP Professional
The Cheonan Corvette (Pohang-class) is like S. Korea's version of PLAN's 053H1G (Jianghu-V). It's not an ASW frigate, and even if it was, I think it'd still have had a hard time detecting a small conventional sub laying in wait.

The Swedish Gotland class scored enough victories in exercises and mock battles, that even the USN leased one for ASW training (2 years). Although the North Korean subs aren't as advanced, neither is the SK Corvette's ASW capability.

Could SK have faked the evidence? Yes. Could NK's sub have attacked and sinked the SK ship? Yes. Regardless of what you believe, the fact is that surface warships fare poorly against an underwater torpedo attack in such environment. The Russians have some anti-torpedo weapons, but they're only useful if you detected the torpedo in time.
 
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