North Korea launch new war ship - but it sank

[gortex]

Something went dramatically wrong at the launch as the sparkly new warship tipped onto its side during what is believed to have been a side launch , the Dear Leader (the Korean one) is said not to be best pleased.

Sadly given DPRK no footage of the embarrassing mishap but story below.
 

I really wouldn't want to have been involved in that project.

[F2d5thCav]

Bet there is some howling laughter at the officers' clubs of the ROK navy today.

[Bally002]

Bet there is some howling laughter at the officers' clubs of the ROK navy today.

It was smashing the glass bottle of sparkling fruity rice wine on the port side that did it i reckons.

Bally)

[FCD]

Launching like that they should have filled the ship with tens of thousands of gallons of water ballast.  If they didn't do that, the buoyancy of the lower parts of the ship would be greater than the upper parts of the ship, and until it settled into the water it would be top heavy as hell.

Dunno if this was the issue, but often when ships are launched this way there is inadequate ballast down low.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Satellite imagery from Airbus Defence and Space captured today by Open Source Centre London (@osc_london) shows the latest failed launch of Choe Hyon-class guided-missile destroyer of the Korean People's Navy partially sunk at the Chongjin Shipyard in North Korea.



An earlier image, also taken by @AirbusSpace, shows the vessel prior to being moved onto the slipway at Chongjin.



Mass executions commence at dawn!

[Bally002]

I believe the Dear Leader daughter was present for the launch and heard nonchalantly saying,


"Wha Kung doo dat!"

Bally)

[OmegaLogos]

Explanation: Simon and Garfunkel said it best ... that ship is slip sliding away!!!



Personal Disclosure: I wonder who or what the Norks will blame it on eh. I wouldn't be surprised if they claimed that SK and the USA both conspired to make that happen somehow ... using black satellites in space etc! LOL

[FCD]

Thanks for the better pictures, ETMN!  I was having a hard time making out the outline of the ship in previous pictures I'd seen.  I see now why.  They've dragged all sorts of blue tarps over the top of the floating portion to disguise its outline from satellites. 

One interesting thing I noticed is in the top picture(s).  You can see the barge crane has a tremendous lateral load on it (like WOW!).  At first I thought this was just distortion due to the satellite not being directly overhead, but if that was the case you'd see the same distortion on the gantry cranes both fore and aft of the ship.  You don't see similar angular distortion with those objects.  So, they must have that crane loaded to 150% of it's maximum capacity.  You don't load a crane like that...ever.

I mean, I get it that they're probably panicking (big time), but still; if you dump your heavy lift crane you've got just that much more to salvage.  Surely they didn't think they'd be able to lift the bow of that destroyer off the pier...did they?

They're really in a helluva predicament with this ship with where it's sitting.  There's no way they're going to use tugs to drag it off the pier, and even if they did it'll probably sink.  It's way too big to pick up.  They might be able to jack up the bow and then roll it off...maybe.  But other than that, about the only other option is to blast the pier away until they can get the whole thing in the water and then try to move it. 

I love logistics problems like this.  I usually get dragged into them at work when stuff goes really sideways.

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I read an interesting article which pointed out something I hadn't noticed in the top photograph.  It questioned why the blue tarps were covering large portions of the slipway where the ship was sitting.  The initial speculation is that pieces of the ship's hull are covered by these tarps.  If true, then there is far more damage to the ship than originally thought.  The current thinking is that the bogies under the forward portion of the ship did not move, or did not move enough.  This would have put the ship in a twisting bind, possibly ripping the bottom of the forward portion of the hull apart.

I can hear the antiaircraft guns exploding worker's heads from here.  Poor bastages!

Updated Article

[FCD]

-----------------------------------------------------Update---------------------------------------

I'm really hoping some agency/news outlet posts up some satellite pictures with the tarps removed so the actual damage can be seen.  Not holding out much hope of this though because the Norks will probably do this at night, and then cover things back up by the next satellite pass (to prevent exactly this).

My guess is that the next steps will be to figure out how to get the ship off the pier (without sinking it).  Then they'll likely right the ship by ballasting the keel and using air bladders inside to displace the water in the hull up high.  Once they get it upright they'll probably move a mobile drydock into place and load the ship onto that.  But I don't know if the Norks have a floating drydock that large.  Those vessels are some pretty advanced technology which might be outside the reach of NK.  This brings up another interesting question; I wonder what assistance, if any, China may be asked to provide?  Wonder if they'll even consider doing it at all?

[xuenchen]

So how many executions will take place for this OUTRAGE!!!!!  

[FCD]

So how many executions will take place for this OUTRAGE!!!!!  

I'm guessing a couple hundred or so.

I mean, if you just blow up 2-3 guys, the message doesn't really get out there.  Do that, and everyone will set someone up every time to be a scape goat.  No, you've got to wipe out a few dozen and their extended families (mothers, fathers, children, babies, grandparents, aunts and uncles) to really get the message to hit home.  You need to have everyone in a worker's social orbit to be reinforcing the same message..."Now, whatever you do, don't fk up even a little bit at work today because if you do you'll get us ALL blown up by anti-aircraft guns and fed to starving dogs!  This Kim MF'er don't mess around!  You feelin' me, bro??"

Seriously though, I read one report which said that it's quite possible fatboy could wipe out large percentages of his entire naval scientific and engineering community, so many in fact that it damages the country's naval capabilities for an entire generation.  Homey don' play dat sheet!  Make him look bad and people are gonna' pay; lots of people.

[F2d5thCav]

Hu Fok Op is the most wanted man in North Korea now.

This would be the perfect time for the chief of the ROK Navy to send a message to his Nork counterpart congratulating them on the launch of their newest ship 

[FCD]

Heh, yeah.  There actually IS, in reality, a pretty good opportunity to play some mind games on fatboy right now, and something similar to what you describe might actually work.  Send him messages making it look like it was intentional sabotage from inside.  Kim would go on a glazed donut-fueled rampage, wiping out half the country's population.

[gortex]

So how many executions will take place for this OUTRAGE!!!!!  

As it stands 4 people have now been arrested including the likely official sacrificial lamb the State run news agency revealed today.

Ri Hyong-son, deputy director of the ruling Workers' Party's Munitions Industry Department, was "largely responsible for the serious accident" last week, state-run news agency KCNA said on Monday.
The 5,000-ton destroyer had tipped over and damaged its hull, in what Kim described as a "criminal act" that "severely damaged the [country's] dignity and pride".
The vessel is being repaired under the guidance of an expert group, KCNA said.

Mr Ri, who is part of the party's Central Military Commission, is the highest level official arrested over the incident so far.
The commission commands the Korean People's Army and is responsible for developing and implementing North Korea's military policies.
Over the weekend, Pyongyang also detained three officials at the northern Chongjin shipyard, where the destroyer was built and where its launch failed.
The officials were the chief engineer, its construction head and an administrative manager.
Kim earlier said Wednesday's incident was caused by "absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy3rr307qyo

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Nokors laboring feverishly to end humiliation.


North Korea Using Balloons To Salvage Doomed Warship: Analyst

[F2d5thCav]

Nokors laboring feverishly to end humiliation.


North Korea Using Balloons To Salvage Doomed Warship: Analyst

Ship captain in "Jaws":  ' We're going to need bigger balloons ... '

[FCD]

I seriously doubt the balloons are there to assist in the ship's recovery.

The balloons are likely there to obscure satellite photography.  In the coming days I wouldn't be surprised to see hundreds or even thousands of them over the ship.

The Norks have now realized that recovery will take weeks (not some overnight venture), and thus the real damage will be exposed in the process.  This suggests, as I suspected, the damage is FAR worse than reported...likely bordering on laughable from an engineering standpoint, and Kim knows it.

[FCD]

In some further reading this morning from various sources it seems the damage to this ship is growing gravely worse by the day (hour even).  Seawater has now infiltrated large areas of the interior of the vessel, areas which cannot be accessed without structural disassembly of the ship itself.  The seawater itself can be pumped out, but the corrosive effects of the saltwater on the steel structures cannot be removed and will continue unabated for the (likely short) lifespan of this ship.  The full effect of the corrosive action hasn't even begun to be felt at this point, not in measurable terms anyway.  But when the ship is righted (if it ever is), and the water pumped out, only then will the full effects of corrosion set in...when the submerged areas are exposed to the air.  The longer the ship stays on its side, the more of these areas which get infiltrated, and thus the more systemic corrosion which takes place. 

The other thing I saw which I found interesting is UK naval engineers have now had time take detailed measurements and perform some more involved calculations.  They are now stating that because of the way the ship is laying, half on the pier and half off, the very keel of the ship is very likely bent.  If this turns out to be accurate, it is something which cannot be corrected, no matter what other efforts the Norks employ to save the vessel.  One leading naval engineering firm stated pretty emphatically that the ship is likely now a total loss, and at this point western nations would be left no choice but to break the ship, salvage the steel, melt it down, reforge it and rebuild the ship entirely.  Now, that said, what the Norks ultimately decide to do with the ship is anyone's guess.

When you couple all this with the recent appearance of the balloon 'cover' over the vessel (so they can remove the blue tarps) which indicates the damage is even worse than any estimates so far, it presents an interesting engineering challenge for fatboy Kim.  

On the one hand, they are likely attempting to obscure the ship from outside prying eyes because of something they are trying to hide.  Beyond the likely physical damage, it is likely that if the ship were to be uncovered (tarps and balloons removed) this would reveal some engineering practices which are completely contrary to sound naval engineering practices.  That's the one hand.  

On the other hand, Kim is at a crossroads with this incident (a more fundamental crossroads than meets the eye).  If the most responsible thing to do (in terms of accepted engineering principles) is to break the ship and start over, Kim will look even more foolish than ever by attempting to repair the vessel.  Consequently, Kim has to make a decision which goes beyond the ship itself.  This is now a matter of national pride and honor.  Failure to do the right thing (now) will show the entire World just how mature, or immature, North Korea is as a nation.  So, a lot hangs in the balance for Kim and the image of North Korea as a whole.  Never before in the history of the country has such a massive blunder taken place which is plainly visible to the outside world.

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Another interesting little factoid I came across in my travels related to the North Korean navy is, as many may know, this is not the 1st ship like this for NK.  It is actually the 2nd vessel of this type.  The 1st destroyer, the 'Choi Hyon', was commissioned and launched in April 2025.  Shortly after the launch, NK surprised many naval experts by seemingly launching two large anti-ship missiles from NK's new VLS (vertical launch system), technology which NK was previously thought to not possess.

This is what the outside world 'thought' they saw anyway.

But what actually happened is a little different than this (no surprise there, right?).  While the Choi Hyon did apparently launch a missile, and it was from some sort of a VLS (how complete this system really is is unclear), but what the World didn't see was how the ship traveled to the launch point.  It turns out that the vessel did not travel to the launching point under its own power, but was instead towed (at night) by tugs into position.  This in and of itself is not shocking and could be explained by a variety of readiness issues.  However, closer inspection revealed something quite a bit more surprising.

Upon closer inspection by western intelligence agencies the ship did not appear to be sitting in the water normally.  It appeared to be both lighter and angled unexpectedly in the water.  It now appears that the ship's main propulsion systems (the engines) have not been installed.  To install the engines now, after the vessel has been launched, will require cutting the ship in half (two pieces basically) to retrofit the massive 2,500+ ton propulsion units inside the hull and there is more than one.  These engines are on the order of 100 feet long, nearly 50 feet tall and around 40 feet wide...each.  So, not a simple engine swap where you pop the hood and throw in a new motor...far from it.

Now, if you're familiar with the development timeline of these two ships (i.e. the wrecked one which failed to launch the other day, and the Choi Hyon discussed above which launched in April '25) you will know that each of these ships was constructed in less than 4 years.  This is unheard of in the naval design and construction world for a ship of this size and complexity.  Western analysts had been scratching their heads trying to understand how this would be possible when no other nation on Earth could accomplish the same thing.  Well, now at least part of the answer is known...NK didn't work any miracles, they just launched a ship which wasn't finished yet (and it wasn't anywhere close to being finished either).

So...what those blue tarps and balloons are covering up on the failed launch ship might be very interesting indeed!!

[FCD]

Update - It has now been just over two weeks since NK attempted, and failed, to launch one of its new destroyers, a Choe Hyun class boat.  The capsized vessel had been stricken on its side since the failed launch on May 21.

In some crude satellite photos from June 2, it appears as though NK has righted the ship to an upright position.  The ship was likely righted by the power of fear alone in the hermit kingdom.  The vessel still remains partially upon the pier it was launched from, but Kim's minions have made some progress it seems.

NK Destroyer pulled upright