Navy 3rd Fleet Unaware of Satellite Phone Number of Missing Vessel

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The reason why communication with the Choi Young-class destroyer (4400t class, DDH-Ⅱ) was cut off for about three hours on the 5th of last month was found to be due to the complacent duty of the Fleet Command. The Fleet Command did not even know the satellite phone number of the Choi Young-class destroyer whose communication was cut off, so they could not make contact.

According to the investigation results on the Choi Young-class destroyer's communication outage by the Navy Operations Command's Combat Readiness Office announced on the 29th, the Choi Young-class destroyer experienced satellite communication failure due to the blocking of radio wave transmission and reception of the satellite communication antenna while navigating west of Heuksando Island to avoid a typhoon in the early morning of July 5th.

The communication failure occurred due to a structural problem where the radio wave transmission and reception of the satellite communication antenna were blocked by the ship's own structure when the Choi Young-class destroyer maneuvered in a specific direction.

Therefore, after recognizing the communication failure, the crew of the Choi Young-class destroyer should have changed the maneuvering direction or switched to an alternative communication network, but it was found that the recognition and response to the communication failure were delayed. The 3rd Fleet's land-based situation room, which oversees the waters where the Choi Young-class destroyer was navigating at the time, attempted to communicate via satellite phone when communication was cut off for a long time, but they did not have the latest phone number, so communication was not immediately resumed. The Choi Young-class destroyer did not share the latest number information. Eventually, communication was resumed only after about three hours of outage.

A Navy official said, "It was judged that there was a problem with duty discipline, and those involved will be strictly disciplined," indicating disciplinary action. The 3rd Fleet reported this to the Navy Operations Command, but the Navy Operations Command did not report the situation or command to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and only informed them of the communication outage as a 'reference report' that afternoon.

In response, the Navy explained, "We took the situation of the Choi Young-class destroyer very seriously," adding, "We have maintained checklists and drills for actions to be taken in case of satellite communication network outages, and improved the satellite communication contact situation reporting system."

Furthermore, to resolve the problem of radio wave transmission and reception of the satellite communication antenna being blocked during maneuvering in a specific direction, structural issues related to satellite communication will be improved and supplemented in the mid-to-long term during ship design.

Separately from the Navy, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Combat Readiness Inspection Office, which conducted an investigation, judged that there were shortcomings in the Navy's report and has started improvements.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said, "Despite the long-term communication outage with a major ship, there was no situation report or command report, which was judged to be insufficient reporting," and added, "We will improve guidelines to ensure reporting in similar situations."

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