Posted on 04/02/2010 3:33:32 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
04-02-2010 18:41
'Torpedo More Probable Cause Than Mine'
 President Lee Myung-bak offers his condolences Friday to family members of the late Han Joo-ho, the Navy warrant officer who died Tuesday after experiencing decompression sickness during an operation to rescue missing sailors of the sunken Cheonan, at a memorial service in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. / Korea Times |
By Jung Sung-ki, Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporters
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Friday that the more-likely cause of the Cheonan's tragic sinking was a torpedo attack rather than an underwater mine.
``Both torpedoes and mines are possible causes of the sinking. But I believe that there is a higher chance that torpedoes were the cause,'' Kim said at a National Assembly session.
The minister, however, said the sonar operator of the ill-fated Cheonan did not detect any signs of torpedoes approaching at the time of the disaster that took place near the western sea border on March 26.
Kim downplayed the possibility of Pyongyang's involvement in the sinking, though he admitted that two North Korean submarines were spotted near the site from March 24 to 27.
``It is possible that they are linked to this incident, but the odds are low, given that they move slowly and were far from Baengnyeong Island,'' he said.
Kim reiterated that the cause of the sinking may be uncovered after the recovery of the wreckage in the coming weeks.
Military divers resumed their search for 46 missing sailors from the sunken warship Friday ― 58 were rescued.
Search-and rescue efforts were suspended for two days due to stormy weather, causing hopes to fade for the missing.
(Excerpt) Read more at koreatimes.co.kr ...
P!
This looks like typical NK provocation to me.
I am wondering if this could have been a NK version of a CAPTOR mine. If the torpedo release envelope was set tight enough, maybe there would not be time for the ship’s SONAR to make a report.
I have read those reports too, and I believe it ties in with what I previously posted.
Stealth is no magic invisibility cloak. When it refers to subs or semi-submersibles, it simply means that such vessels are harder to detect than conventional ships/subs.
But their effectiveness in stealth limits their combat capabilities. They have to stay slow to stay stealthy.
On the other hand, such a vessel, equipped with a single CAPTOR type mine, could slip into an area where the ROK Navy runs regular patrols, drop the mine, and slip out without much risk.
I may be wrong but if some loopie N.Koreans in a small sub used a torpedo or mine to take out the S. Korean ship, eventually it will come out when the North in some fashion holds these guys up as national heros.
medals and all.
If it comes out that the North deliberately took out the ship there will be hell to pay. Koreans are in to that eye for an eye and humiliation thing.
For those of you not familiar with the Navy munitions, the Mk 60 CAPTOR is the US Navy's deep water mine that detects ships or subs and launches a modified Mk 46 Torpedo to sink it. Several countries are thought to have similar mines that use torpedos.
Nothing, not even full disclosure by both sides of this will create enough of a cry to resume hostlilties between the two sides of this provocative and well planned out incident...
Thanks for that info, because I did know just what a Mk 60 CAPTOR Mine was.
did know = did not know just what a Mk 60 CAPTOR Mine was
We know that the Iranians have a mine like the Captor because one sunk a US Navy ship during Desert Storm. There’s a good chance that they got it from North Korea who got it from the Chinese.
How sad, the wives and mothers are so young to bear the grief of loosing a loved one.
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