Saebyŏk-class corvette

The Saebyŏk-class corvettes are a class of heavy corvettes built in Menghe during the early 2010s. Properly designated as "medium coastal destroyers" (Menghean: junghyŏng yŏnan guchugham), they are designed for littoral warfare, and carry heavy gun armament to engage enemy light craft and provide fire support for ground troops. Originally, a production run of 16 ships was planned, with options for more; but the sinking of the Bŏmram and the resolution of the Innominadan Crisis led the Menghean Navy to suspend production early and retire the class prematurely.

Role

The Saebyŏk-class corvettes were designed to support the Menghean Army's advance on land by sailing parallel to the shoreline, both off the coast of Innominada and around Altagracia. In this respect, they are similar in role to the Taepung-class corvettes that preceded them. The main difference lies in the Saebyŏk-class corvettes' larger size, heavier armament, and helicopter facilities, which allow the ships to take on a greater range of missions with greater ease.

Design

Armament

The Saebyŏk-class corvettes are armed with a 130mm mechanically loading deck gun forward, giving them a relatively gun-heavy appearance. They are the smallest warships to carry the HP-130/1 Type 102 deck gun. In contrast to the 122mm multiple rocket launcher on the preceding Taepung class, the 130mm gun allows for sustained bombardment, and features greater accuracy, in part due to its improved stabilization.

For additional defense against surface craft and low-flying aircraft, the Saebyŏk-class ships are also armed with a HP-76/1 gun turret aft and a twin 35mm gun turret forward. These can be aimed either with the help of on-turret electro-optical sights, or through the use of STIR 1.2 fire-control radar antennas on the superstructure. Flanking the helicopter hangar are two twin 23mm anti-aircraft guns, which are manually aimed by a crew of two each. These were removed from some ships in minor refits after 2017, replaced by pintle mounts for 12.7mm machine guns.

Just forward of the 76mm gun turret are two quadruple launch boxes for YDH-26 anti-ship missiles. These can also be loaded with the SY-26 cruise missile, a land-attack YDH-26 variant with an electro-optical seeker, ground-piercing warhead, and satellite and inertial guidance system.

Powerplant

The Saebyŏk-class corvettes are powered by a slightly scaled-up version of the CODAG WARP powerplant on the Taepung-class destroyers, with an LM2500+ gas turbine in place of the LM2500. This change offsets the Saebyŏks' increased displacement, but only slightly: they are slower than the Taepung-class, and significantly slower than the Meng Dae-wŏn and Ra Ji-yun-class missile boats, which limits their ability to pursue and intercept enemy light craft.

Aviation facilities

The quarterdeck of the Saebyŏk-class corvettes contains a landing pad for a GH-30HG light helicopter. This helicopter can be used to deploy small special forces teams, conduct reconnaissance ahead of the ship, or launch missiles at land and sea targets. It has no anti-submarine capability, however, with neither a dipping sonar nor the ability to carry torpedoes.

Evaluation and withdrawal

Despite their many improvements over the Taepung class, the Saebyŏk-class ships do share a significant limitation of their predecessors: they carry no surface-to-air missile armament, leaving them highly vulnerable to attacks by aircraft and anti-ship missiles. After the loss of the Taepung-class corvette Bŏmram to a MiG-21 fighter-bomber in the Innominadan Crisis, the Menghean Navy conducted an evaluation of the "coastal destroyer" concept, concluding that coastal warships without self-defense missile armament would be easily destroyed in a war with a parity opponent like Sieuxerr.

In early 2015, shortly after the Bŏmram incident, the Menghean Navy cancelled the thirteenth through sixteenth Saebyŏk-class corvettes, all of which were already under construction. The sixteenth was scrapped in place, and the remaining three were completed but transferred to Azbekistan at a discounted rate. The first twelve ships remain in service with the Menghean Navy, but it is expected that the upcoming Donghan-class corvettes will replace them on a one-to-one basis, even though the first ship in the Saebyŏk class is less than 10 years old.