The Republic of Korea Navy, also known as the ROK Navy or South Korean Navy, is the naval warfare service branch of the South Korean armed forces, responsible for naval and amphibious operations. The ROK Navy includes the Republic of Korea Marine Corps, which functions as a branch of the Navy. The ROK Navy has about 70,000 regular personnel including 29,000 Republic of Korea Marines. There are about 140 commissioned ships in the ROK Navy. The naval aviation force consists of about 70 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. The ROK Marine Corps has about 300 tracked vehicles including assault amphibious vehicles.
A deep-submergence rescue vehicle (DSRV) is a type of deep-submergence vehicle used for rescue of personnel from disabled submarines and submersibles. While DSRV is the term most often used by the United States Navy, other nations have different designations for their equivalent vehicles.
The third USS Penguin (ASR–12) was a submarine rescue ship in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the lead ship of a class of three vessels all originally laid down as fleet ocean tugs before being converted to rescue ships before completion.
The third USS Falcon, (AM-28/ASR-2) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper in the United States Navy. She later became a submarine rescue ship.
USS Widgeon (AM-22/ASR-1) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. Later converted to a submarine rescue ship. Widgeon was named by the Navy after the widgeon, a freshwater duck.
The first USS Chewink (AM-39/ASR-3) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper in the United States Navy. She was later converted to a submarine rescue ship.
The first USS Ortolan(AM-45/ASR-5) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper in the United States Navy. She was later converted to a submarine rescue ship. She was named after the ortolan, a European bunting.
The first USS Mallard (AM-44/ASR-4) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper in the United States Navy. She was later converted to a submarine rescue ship.
USS Greenlet (ASR-10) was a Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ship in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1970. In June 1970, the ship was transferred to the Turkish Navy, renamed TCG Akin (A-585) and remained in service until 2017.
The Republic of Korea Navy was founded on November 11, 1945 as Marine Defense Group after Korea was liberated from the Empire of Japan. The ROK Navy is the oldest service within the ROK Armed Forces. In 2015, the South Korean navy celebrated its 70th anniversary.
The Pohang-class PCC is the low-end complement of the high-low mix domestic naval construction plan of the Republic of Korea Navy under the 1st Yulgok Project (1974-1986) for the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. It was originally planned as a Batch II production of Donghae-class corvette, but many changes on overall design, notably applying the hull design of Ulsan-class frigate, reclassified the ship to its own class. The ship is designed for patrolling maritime border, including the Northern Limit Line, protecting the littoral zone, and combating the North Korean vessels.
The 1998 Yosu submersible incident was a naval skirmish that occurred off of the southern coast of South Korea between 17 and 18 December 1998. On the evening of 17 December, a South Korean observation post sighted a North Korean semi-submersible naval vessel in the vicinity of the city of Yosu. The semi-submersible was discovered and sunk during a subsequent search and skirmish on the morning of 18 December.
A submarine rescue ship is a surface support ship for submarine rescue and deep-sea salvage operations. Methods employed include the McCann Rescue Chamber, deep-submergence rescue vehicles (DSRV's) and diving operations.
The Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla, name abbreviated NAVSPECWARFLOT or WARFLOT, is a special operations force of the Republic of Korea Navy. The WARFLOT is most commonly referred to as the Underwater Demolition Team or UDT, and sometimes as UDT/SEALs, coming from the fact UDTs are the most prominent branch of the flotilla and their close ties with US Navy SEALs respectively.
The Cheonghaejin class is a submarine rescue ship class of the Republic of Korea Navy. Only one ship has been built in the class, ROKS Cheonghaejin, in 1995. Its operations include rescuing trapped sailors in submarines, naval operation support for submarines, underwater research and mapping support, and recovery of sunk vessels. It is equipped with a deep submergence rescue vehicle (DSRV) that operates up to 500 metres (1,600 ft), and a rescue chamber that holds up to nine people.
ROKS Cheonan (PCC-772) was a Pohang-class corvette of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN), commissioned in 1989. On 26 March 2010, she broke in two and sank near the sea border with North Korea, killing 46 sailors. An investigation conducted by an international team of experts from South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Sweden concluded that Cheonan was sunk by a torpedo launched by a North Korean Yeono-class miniature submarine.
ROKS Daegu (FFG-818) is the lead ship of the Daegu-class frigate in the Republic of Korea Navy. She is named after the city, Daegu.
Yangyang-class minesweeper is a ship class of minesweepers currently in service on the Republic of Korea Navy.
ROKS Tongyeong (ATS-31) is the lead ship of the Tongyeong-class salvage and rescue ship in the Republic of Korea Navy. She is named after the city, Tongyeong.
South Korea
