North Korea recently, and unknowingly, competed to set the shortest time for the maiden voyage of a warship. It appears it can now boast it holds the record!

Early seventeenth-century Sweden was struggling to become a naval superpower. She built the world’s most heavily armed warship of the day—the Vasa—which was launched on August 10, 1628 as the King of Sweden sought to expand his navy.

But, equipped with bronze cannons on the upper decks that created an instability issue, the vessel sailed a mere 1,400 yards on a maiden voyage lasting only minutes before capsizing and sinking beneath the waves. While the valuable cannons were salvaged later that century, the ship was mostly forgotten by history.

In 1961, Vasa was salvaged with an intact hull and eventually moved to Stockholm where it became a museum, now having welcomed over 45 million visitors. But Vasa’s record for the shortest maiden voyage in history withstood the test of time for 397 years.

On May 21, 2025, North Korea launched a 5,000-ton frigate, the second of its class, in the eastern port city of Chongjin. The Asian power’s “Pillsbury Dough Boy” dictatorial leader—Kim Jong Un––was seeking to expand his navy as well. This launch followed the commissioning just last month of the lead ship of the class—the Choi Hyon. While the name of the second ship is unknown, its launching created a most embarrassing incident for Kim who was in attendance but, fortunately for him, not on board when it was launched.

There are four ways to launch a vessel, with the oldest known as the “gravitational.” This involves sliding the ship down a lubricated or steel-roller slideway into the water. There are different sub-type variations of the gravitational as well, such as the longitudinal launch (along the ship’s length), which the North Koreans were utilizing. It is a more complex method which experts believe Pyongyang had never used before. It is popular where a water channel is too confined to allow for a slipway, but mandates extensive support for the vessel’s weight along the length of its hull.

In a launching that probably went fatal in less than a minute, the ship collapsed into the water on its side next to its dock, leaving onlookers absolutely stunned. It appears the vessel also suffered significant damage in the process of doing so. Contributing to the mishap as well may be the fact that this particular shipyard—prior to construction of the frigate—had only built commercial ships and may, therefore, have lacked the expertise in manufacturing and launching such large warships.

In a rare instance of truthfulness, although it would have been difficult to claim otherwise, North Korea confirmed the accident. Kim described it as a “serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Not a fan of “the buck stops here” leadership principle, he has blamed everyone, including military officials and shipyard operators and promised an investigation. The arrests of some officials, such as the shipyard’s chief engineer, has begun. Investigators vowed that those responsible “can never evade their responsibility for the crime,” placating Kim’s declaration such irresponsibility “could not be tolerated.”

Kim has called for immediate action to make the ship serviceable again. He has set the unreasonable deadline of completing the extensive repairs next month. As a start, like a deceased hospital patient, the ship has been covered up with a large tarp to prevent satellite observation. Undoubtedly Kim must have wished he had some tarp to hide under as well!

Perhaps we should be surprised that Pyongyang did not attempt to explain the accident away, like claiming the ship was really a new class of semi-submersible! Such an absurd claim is reflective of normal North Korean thinking! But, true to form, they have tried to downplay the amount of damage done.

If worst comes to worst, Kim could always try doing a “Vasa”—turning the ship into a museum. Obviously that would never happen. While Vasa represents a Swedish engineering failure occurring almost four centuries ago, this ship represents a North Korean engineering failure that is inexcusable today.

Image: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.