Launch Ceremony of Cheonan Ship Without Surviving Cheonanham Soldiers

[Asia Economy Military Specialist Yang Nak-gyu]Although the Cheonan ship, which was sunk after being hit in 2010, has been revived as a latest model frigate equipped with anti-submarine capabilities, the former captain of the Cheonan (retired colonel) and surviving crew members did not attend the launching ceremony.

On the 9th, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration held the launching ceremony for the 7th new frigate named 'Cheonan' at Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan in the afternoon. However, former Captain Choi stated on his Facebook the day before, "The president says the Cheonan was attacked by North Korea, but which country's organization are these people?" and "I will not attend the Cheonan launching ceremony tomorrow."

This is in response to the Korea Communications Standards Commission's decision that there was no problem with a YouTube content spreading the 'submarine collision theory' as the cause of the sinking of the Cheonan, which was hit by North Korea in 2010. However, Son Jeong-mok, chairman of the Cheonan Foundation, Lee Seong-woo, chairman of the Cheonan bereaved families association, and other bereaved families of the past Cheonan casualties are expected to attend.

The Cheonan, a Daegu-class frigate (2800 tons), measures 122 meters in length, 14 meters in width, and 35 meters in height, and is armed with a 5-inch naval gun, anti-ship missiles, tactical surface-to-surface missiles, and a close-in weapon system (Phalanx).

Compared to the previous Cheonan (PCC-772), it features significantly enhanced anti-submarine warfare capabilities. While increasing the ship's survivability, it is equipped with weapons and equipment not originally on the Cheonan, such as the long-range anti-submarine torpedo 'Hong Sang-eo' and the towed array sonar system (TASS) capable of detecting submarines from a long distance.

The Cheonan, which replaces the 1500-ton frigates and 1000-ton patrol ships currently operated by the Navy, will be officially delivered to the Navy in 2023 after sea trials and evaluations, and after completing the operationalization process, it will be deployed as the main ship of the 2nd Fleet for the mission of protecting the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

Meanwhile, the name 'Cheonan' was decided through the ship-naming committee held in March. The place name 'Cheonan' has been used twice before for our Navy ships: the first was the landing craft 'Cheonanjeong' (LCI-101), acquired from the United States and commissioned in 1946, which was decommissioned in 1953. The second was the patrol ship Cheonan, commissioned in 1988 and sunk in 2010, which is currently on display at the Navy 2nd Fleet Security Park.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.