South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced that “Namhae” (MSH-575), the fourth Yangyang-class minesweeper, was handed over to the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy on 19 November. “Namhae” is actually the first of three ships in a new batch. Yangyang-class minesweeper is a ship class of minesweepers currently in service on the Republic of Korea Navy. The new batch being built as part of the Mine Sweeper Hunter (MSH) Phase II program features some improvements. The naming of minesweeper ships is taken from the names of counties and towns adjacent to a naval base. Its main missions are gathering data of ports in the Korean region, and searching naval mine and minesweeping, in wartime. They sometimes used at finding and recovering North Korean missiles, by using Variable Depth Sonar to detect missile fragments.
Yangyang-class ships are 60 metres (196 ft 10 in) long, 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in) wide. They are equipped with Multi-purpose machine gun, a 20 mm (0.8 in) main gun, and Mine Disposal Vehicle (MDV). They use two Voith Schneider Propellers as propulsion, to control the ship more precisely. A Kongsberg Simrad integrated navigation and dynamic positioning system is fitted to aid in precise maneuvering during mine hunting and route survey operations. The machinery system comprises two MTU 2,000 bhp diesel driving two independent vertical Voith-Schneider cycloidal propellers through a gearbox and universal joint shaft. They are equipped with a Multi-purpose machine gun, a 20 mm main gun, and Mine Disposal Vehicle (MDV). They use two Voith Schneider Propellers as propulsion, to control the ship more precisely.
The Yangyang-class typically carry two Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) by Gaymarine. To perform minesweeping activities, mechanical/ inductive minesweeping device and sonar’s are equipped. To protect the ship from magnetic mine, the ship’s hull is made of fibre-reinforced plastic, which does not have a magnetic attraction, and lasts longer than commonly used material. It also minimized metallic equipment to tightly control the magnetic material inside the ship. Steel objects that are brought into the ship, like canned food, are heavily restricted and strictly controlled. The armament is a single 20mm Vulcan main gun and M60 machine guns to detonating the mines floating on the surface of the water.
