Taepung-class corvette

Class overview
Builders:	Gyŏngsan Songsu-do Shipyard Kimhae Naval Yard
Operators:	Menghe
Succeeded by:	Saebyŏk-class corvette
Built:	2007-2010
In commission:	2009-present
Planned:	4
Completed:	4
Active:	3
Lost:	1
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Corvette
Displacement:	tons
Length:	--- m overall --- m at waterline
Beam:	--- m overall --- m at waterline
Draught:	--- m to keel
Propulsion:	CODAG WARP 1 × GGE LM2500 gas turbine --- 2 shafts 1 waterjet
Speed:	-- knots
Range:	-- nautical miles
Complement:	8 officers 53 enlisted crew
Sensors and processing systems:	1 × HR-44N search radar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	1 × D-104 datalink 2 × Baram-3 countermeasure launchers
Armament:	1 × HP-76/1 single 76mm turret 1 × 8 YDH-82 light AShM 1 × GBM-23/5 Bulkkot CIWS 1 × 40 122mm multiple rocket launcher

The Taepung class is a class of light warship designed in Menghe and exported to several countries in the Namhae Front. Though typically referred to as a corvette, the Taepung-class is closer in role to a littoral combat ship. Its official Menghean Navy hull type designation is "small coastal destroyer" (Sohyŏng Yŏnan Guchugham), abbreviated GYS. These ships specialize in engaging and destroying light surface craft and providing coastal bombardment in support of land forces.

Development and Role

After the breakdown in relations with Innominada following the Ummayan Civil War, Menghe launched a crash program to expand its armed forces. Because the Menghean-Innominadan border runs perpendicular to the sea, this involved an increased demand for light surface combatants which could support military operations on land.

The new situation quickly yielded a design requirement for a littoral combat ship. While contemporary littoral combat ship programs in other countries were then yielding multi-mission vessels with modular mission bays, the Menghean Navy instead pursued a small, 1000-ton hull which was highly specialized in anti-surface and anti-shore operations. This specialization stemmed from a number of factors. First, the Menghean Navy had a long postwar tradition of specializing ship designs around particular missions and hull classifications, as seen in the parallel construction programs of the Yechŏn-class frigates and Mirun-class corvettes, with the latter comparable to some anti-submarine frigates. Second, limiting the hull to less than 90 meters overall would allow the new class to be built in slipways and drydocks used for the Sŏwicho-class corvettes, which were nearing the end of their production run. Third, the Navy's engineering team was under urgent pressure to finalize the design quickly, and consequently favored a smaller, more conservative design.

The resulting ship design, designated Plan 111 in development, was highly specialized in anti-surface warfare, including both coastal bombardment and defense against light watercraft. It carried no anti-submarine armament and no surface-to-air missile armament, though the 76mm gun and Bulkkot CIWS could both be used against aircraft and missiles. To fit these capabilities within a small hull, the Plan 111 design also made major sacrifices in range, autonomy, and seakeeping. Because the new ship would conduct all of its operations off the coast of Innominada and in the area around Altagracia, never venturing more than a few hundred kilometers from the shore and from friendly bases, the Menghean Navy judged these sacrifices acceptable. In most operations, Taepung-class ships were also expected to operate in combination with dedicated minesweepers and anti-submarine corvettes, with friendly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft operating from land.

Classification

To accommocate the ship's new role, the Menghean Navy created a new class of hull designations starting with GY. The Plan 111 design would be classified as a "small coastal destroyer" (Sohyŏng Yŏnan Guchugham, GYS). The term "destroyer" here retains its original, literal commotation, of a fast ship which pursues and destroys smaller vessels. In a way, this hearkens back to the original role of the torpedo boat destroyers of the late 19th century, complete with a quick-firing 76mm deck gun.

While known in Anglian as destroyers, the Haeju and Pyŏng'an classes are designated in Menghean as main force escort ships (Juryŏk Howiham, HJ), while the Nunbora and Chŏndong-class destroyers are classified as "guided missile destroyers" (Yudotan Guchugham, GY). Like other G-type destroyers, the Taepung-class are named for weather conditions, and in fact the first ship was named in honor of the first Taepung-class destroyer, which was decommissioned in 1988.

Operational service

The Taepung-class corvettes saw extensive service during the Innominadan Crisis, first in the counter-piracy role, then in the landing support role, and eventually in the occupation patrol role. Taepung-class corvettes near Altagracia also carried out high-readiness patrols during the early phase of the crisis, in preparation for any outbreak of fighting on the peninsula.

On October 7th, 2014, GYS-231 Bŏmram was on patrol 120 kilometers east of Nueva Meridia (later renamed Ao Mangkon) when she came under attack from two low-flying MiG-21s which had evaded detection by Menghean air patrols. Lacking surface-to-air missiles and unable to confirm the MiG-21's altitude until it was within visual range, Bŏmram opened fire with her 76mm gun but failed to drive off the attacker. According to one surviving crewman, sailors rushed to man the starboard-side machine guns as an emergency effort to fend off the approaching plane. The ship's aft 23mm gun eventually downed the incoming MiG-21, but only after it had already released four 250kg bombs, which impacted on and around the Bŏmram. Severely damaged, the corvette began to sink, and her crew scrambled to abandon ship. Captain Han Jin-chŏl and most of the ship's officers were killed in the attack; the anti-submarine corvette Ranhwa later arrived to pick up survivors.

News of the event prompted the Menghean Navy to conduct a thorough investigation of the events leading up to the Bŏmram's sinking. The leading factors were found to be poor coordination of Army Aviation fighters and Navy surface ships; inadequate air-search radar equipment aboard the Roe-u; inadequate anti-air armament aboard the Bŏmram; and overconfidence by higher commanding officers, who operated under the incorrect assumption that the Nueva Meridia military airbase had been disabled. Its Number 2 runway, though damaged by air attacks, had been returned to operation the night before. This investigation prompted a wider re-evaluation of the "small coastal destroyer" concept, as the ability of a second-generation jet fighter with unguided bombs to destroy an otherwise fully functional Taepung-class corvette starkly highlighted the type's vulnerability to air and missile attack.