In a sharp contrast to the hustle and bustle of South Korea’s biggest port city of Busan, a naval submarine docked in resolute silence as it stayed ready for drills to track and strike simulated North Korean underwater and ground targets.
The 3,000-ton ROKS Ahn Mu began diving for the training, conducted in the wake of North Korea’s recent provocations involving a failed spy satellite launch, a barrage of short-range ballistic missile launches and some 1,600 trash-carrying balloons sent across the border.
Tense air filled the 83-meter-long diesel submarine as crew members swiftly retained their positions in the control room, dubbed the brain of the submarine. A heavy thump signaled that the hatch had closed and the masts were tucked in.
“We are now completely severed from the outside world,” a Navy official told reporters of the defense ministry’s press corps, who were given rare access to observe the training held Tuesday. Only occasional swings indicated the submarine was maneuvering underwater.
The co
ntrol room shifted to a combat mode as a simulated North Korean submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean sea border, as confirmed by its sonar systems.
The submarine’s launch tube thrust seawater forward to discharge a torpedo — a technique that enables a more quiet and swift launch compared with existing systems using compressed air — and precisely hit the target. The submarine descended deeper into the sea to dodge an approaching enemy surface ship and resurfaced to torpedo it.
The training wrapped up as the ROKS Ahn Mu accurately struck a key enemy ground target by launching a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from its vertical launch tube, a key capability that sets the generation of 3,000-ton submarines apart from earlier models.
While the drills were simulated, they are a stern reminder of North Korea’s growing maritime threats, such as its test-firings of the submarine-launched Pulhwasal-3-31 strategic cruise missile and ef
forts to build a nuclear-powered submarine.
Last year, North Korea said it had tested an underwater attack drone, named Haeil, claiming that the weapon is capable of generating a “radioactive tsunami” and stealthily attacking enemies. The North also unveiled what it claimed was its first tactical nuclear attack submarine last September.
In response, South Korea has been pushing to deter such threats by honing its underwater capabilities with “strategic” submarines built with advanced homegrown technologies and maintaining firm readiness.
“All crew members are equipped with the highest level of combat readiness,” Capt. Ahn Geon-young, commander of the ROKS Ahn Mu, said. “We will immediately, powerfully and till the end, retaliate underwater in the event of provocations by the enemy.”
Named after the renowned Korean independence fighter Ahn Mu (1883-1924), the submarine is the second of the three homegrown KSS-III Batch-1 submarines considered South Korea’s “core” assets capable of covertly launching surpri
se attacks in a contingency.
The 3,000-ton submarines can load more weapons, including torpedoes and sea mines, compared with earlier 1,200-ton and 1,800-ton models, while remaining as stealthy as smaller submarines, thanks to sound-absorbing tiles and advanced vibration and noise reduction technologies.
For the submarine’s 50 or so crew members, the extra space helps them better deal with life in a confined space without sunlight and contact with the outside world, which can extend up to weeks depending on the mission.
A typical bedroom consists of narrow, three-tier bunk beds, with tiny desks and lockers packed in between them, but Navy officials said this is an improvement from the country’s earlier fleet of submarines with tighter living spaces.
The change has opened the door for female submariners to board for duty for the first time in the country’s naval history. The ROKS Ahn Mu’s double-deck design is sufficient to give separate bedrooms and bathrooms to its co-ed crew members.
Four female servic
e members are currently deployed on the ROKS Ahn Mu, while another five are deployed on the 3,000-ton ROKS Dosan Ahn Chang-ho. The ROKS Shin Chae-ho, the third and final submarine of the 3,000-ton KSS-III Batch-1 class, is yet to be deployed for operations.
“I applied for military school after finding out the Navy is planning to deploy female submariners,” said Navy Lt. Sung Ju-bin, who serves as a combat intelligence officer on the ROKS Ahn Mu.
“What I know now is that there are no female soldiers in this submarine. We are all the same submariners.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency