The Korean People’s Navy, the navy of North Korea, has suffered a major blow as its second ever proper warship appears to have been wrecked on launching.
Reports and satellite imagery show that the ship was launched sideways into the water, rather than bows or stern first down a conventional slipway or by flooding up a dry dock. Sideways launch involves supports all along the length of the ship sliding simultaneously down tilted tracks to deposit the ship in the water. According to North Korean state media the bow slides didn’t move but the stern ones did, resulting in major damage to the ship.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who was watching the launch ceremony with his daughter, said the wreck was a “criminal act” caused by carelessness and “unscientific empiricism”, which bodes ill for the people in charge.
For most of its history the KPN has been a coastal navy, or more accurately two coastal navies: the geography of North Korea and the short range of its vessels meant that it was largely impossible to shift craft from coast to coast. Though the KPN has hundreds of vessels they are mostly small: torpedo and missile boats, midget submarines, amphibious hovercraft and such like. It has a few larger ships and submarines, mostly foreign built, but these are very old and unserviceable.
The Korean People’s Navy, the navy of North Korea, has suffered a major blow as its second ever proper warship appears to have been wrecked on launching.
Reports and satellite imagery show that the ship was launched sideways into the water, rather than bows or stern first down a conventional slipway or by flooding up a dry dock. Sideways launch involves supports all along the length of the ship sliding simultaneously down tilted tracks to deposit the ship in the water. According to North Korean state media the bow slides didn’t move but the stern ones did, resulting in major damage to the ship.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who was watching the launch ceremony with his daughter, said the wreck was a “criminal act” caused by carelessness and “unscientific empiricism”, which bodes ill for the people in charge.
For most of its history the KPN has been a coastal navy, or more accurately two coastal navies: the geography of North Korea and the short range of its vessels meant that it was largely impossible to shift craft from coast to coast. Though the KPN has hundreds of vessels they are mostly small: torpedo and missile boats, midget submarines, amphibious hovercraft and such like. It has a few larger ships and submarines, mostly foreign built, but these are very old and unserviceable.