Posted on 04/19/2010 4:48:50 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Military officials and experts believe that if a North Korean torpedo was involved in the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, it was probably launched from a 325-ton Shark-class submarine. The sub ranks between a full-blown submarine and a mini-sub in terms of size.
South Korean military intelligence are reportedly focusing on the fact that one or two Shark-class submarines from a submarine base in Cape Bipagot, South Hwanghae Province are unaccounted for during the time of the Cheonan's sinking.
The Bipagot submarine base is around 80 km from Baeknyeong Island. Shark-class submarines can travel at speeds of 13 km/h under water, so it would take them between six and seven hours to reach Baeknyeong Island. Intelligence officers and experts believe the sub made the trip under water, since traveling on the surface of the water would have exposed it to South Korean and U.S. spy planes and surveillance satellites.
A drawback of the Shark-class diesel-powered submarines is that they need to surface regularly to recharge their batteries and ventilate, a process known as "snorkeling." During this process, the ventilation device can be detected by radar and other surveillance equipment. "The snorkeling equipment is not big, so there is a slim chance that it was detected by South Korean radars while the sub was in North Korean waters," said one source.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.chosun.com ...
praytell, where does an asian jungle dictatorship find a working submarine?
The sub ranks between a full-blown submarine and a mini-sub in terms of size.
What?
Craigslist?
The NKs have been purchasing submarines from the Russian Navy
They have almost 20. Of course, they're all 50/60's vintage. I believe most were purchased from the Chinese or the Russians (perhaps even third-hand). The whiskey-class sub is the most "dangerous", to the extent that it's dangerous. Of course, if this report is accurate, it seems that their sub fleet is lethal enough.
This doesn't say much about the defensive capabilities of the SK Navy. They should have heard this LONG before a torpedo was launched, let alone before it found its target.
The Akula class (shark) are Russian. Dunno if this was one of those, though.
They have 23 subs
Sounds like that sub base needs to be eradicated.
Oh, and BTW, dictators such as the punk running North Korea flexing their “muscles” is an inevitable consequence of have an inept wannbe as POTUS. The world will soon be “thanking” their false messiah Obama for the pain that will inevitably result. Also deserving “thanks” are the 52% of the American population that was stupid enough to vote for the Won.
Flooding the tubes and launching a torpedo is a noisy event.
I am pretty much convinced this is a North Korean attack, but I am also pretty sure they will get away with it.
The problem is that, even if they conclusively prove it was a torpedo attack, there is no way they can conclusively prove that it was launched from a NK submarine.
Yes, obviously, the NKs are really the only people who would, but they are not the only people who COULD.
Nothing will be done.
Geez, I still can’t believe that we still allow the North Koreans to moor the Pueblo at a pier in North Korea. That rusting hulk should have been sunk by smart ordnance decades ago instead of allowing it to remain as a symbol of our lack of resolve.
This possibly answers the “How” portion of this mystery, but nothing to date has addressed the “Why?”. I cannot see any advantage to the NoKos for making this attack on the South; in fact I can see a lot of reasons why they shouldn’t even contemplate doing such a thing.
What did they stand to gain from this?? What did they really accomplish??
Questions that an irrational regime rarely asks of itself...
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