Noticeably, Minister Kim revealed during the parliamentary session that a North Korean spy plane was scouring near the NLL hours after the Cheonan sank. ... www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/.../205_63219.html - 3 hours ago
Posted on 03/29/2010 5:47:11 AM PDT by jhpigott
BAENGNYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's defense minister says North Korea may have intentionally floated a mine to damage a naval ship that exploded and sank this week.
Forty-six crew members are missing and believed trapped within the wreckage of the ship, which went down Friday. Fifty-eight were rescued
While the cause of the explosion is unknown, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told lawmakers in Seoul on Monday that rival North Korea may have floated a mine toward the ship. He also said the explosion could have been caused by a mine placed during the Korean War.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
1) still no official conclusion to the cause
2) the official SK line for the past couple days has tried to downplay the NORK angle . . . not anymore
3) the "intentional" verbiage
floated a mine toward the ship
ping
Cut loose the mine’s anchor and float it into a shipping lane?
It was a long skinny mine with a propeller on one end to assist it in floating.
not much of an expert in mine warfare. From what I’ve read, a floating contact mine would not create the kind of explosion that would cause the ship’s keel to break in two. From a poster (who seemed to know what he was talking about) over at the Stategy Page forums said based on the facts known it could have been a mine anchored to the ocean floor or a torpedo - but what I find more interesting is that the NORK angle is now back in the pitcure
Can a WW II era mine still float 60 years later ?
Didn’t you see Finding Nemo?
They’re slowly starting to admit what EVERYONE already knows. Now what are they going to do about it? This is going to show the world what S. Korea is made of. They’re quick to violently protest the U.S. for made up offenses.
What will the people of S. Korea do when they find out their government will allow N. Korea to kill their young men without responding appropriately?
I don’t know jack about any kind of mines myself, but it seems “quite unlikely” that a Korean war-vintage mine sank a ship here in 2010...
An explosion sternward could indicate an acoustic mine or acoustic-homing torpedo, rather than a decades-old contact mine.
not to be callous because the loss of men is most important, but S.K. also had a 100% loss of a major military asset. Not like this was some small ship that came limping home with damage to be repaired in the ship yard. This puppy was split in two and now sitting at the bottom of the ocean
Yes. Sweden just found one a year or so ago that was built in 1939 and was probably anchored around Danzig.
North Korea has probably dropped hundreds of mines to the bottom of the ocean floor. Upon activation and when an enemy vessel passes over it, a mine is released, electro-magnetically floats up to its target, attaches to the bottom of the passing vessel — and kaboom. It could be that simple.
Noticeably, Minister Kim revealed during the parliamentary session that a North Korean spy plane was scouring near the NLL hours after the Cheonan sank. ... www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/.../205_63219.html - 3 hours ago
Does North Korea actually have a sub stealthy enough to sneek up on a modern South Korean ship?
divers?
Yep you’re right.
A small sub running on batteries could be pretty quiet but I don’t know if you’d run a sub through that area, I read somewhere it was kind of shallow for subs.
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