Plan 832 landing ship
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Plan 832 class |
| Builders: | Anchŏn Naval Yard |
| Operators: | Menghe |
| Preceded by: | none |
| In service: | 1975-present |
| Completed: | 17 |
| General characteristics Plan 832 | |
| Type: | Landing Ship, Medium |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: |
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| Beam: | 9.4 m |
| Draft: | 2.4 m |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft marine diesel engine, 1200 shp total |
| Speed: | 12 knots |
| Range: | 700 nautical miles at 10 knots |
| Complement: | 52 |
| Armament: |
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The Plan 832 landing craft (Menghean: 832設計中型上陸艦 / 832설계 중형 상륙함, pal-sam-i sŏlgye junghyŏng sangryukham) was a type of medium landing ship built in the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe during the 1970s. A total of 17 were completed. Today, these vessels are no longer in active service with the Menghean Navy, though some have been converted to missile reloading ships. In this role, they carry the designation Plan 1632.
Development
The Menghean Marine Infantry Force was established in 1966, under the jurisdiction of the Menghean Navy, two years after the end of the Menghean War of Liberation. Initially, its main operational mission was to conduct landings on the sides of the Altagracian peninsula in support of an effort to retake the territory from the mainland. Its secondary mission was to conduct counter-landings on any Menghean islands captured by hostile forces. Because all of their likely missions would be conducted across sheltered waters over ranges of under 50 kilometers, the Menghean Marine Infantry initially relied on small, open-topped landing craft, which could be mass produced at a low cost.
As the Menghean Navy grew, the naval leadership began expressing concerns that the Renkaku Islands represented a strategic danger to Menghe. The westernmost islands in the chain, 150 and 200 kilometers from Southwest Menghe, could be used as a staging point for an invasion, and aircraft and missiles based on the islands could intercept warships moving between the East Menghe Sea and the South Menghe Sea. In 1972, the DPRM established a new Independent Marine Brigade, based in Jindo prefecture in the southwest. While the brigade ostensibly intended for counter-landing operations in the southwestern islands, one of its battalions was tasked with seizing the westernmost island in the chain at the outset of the war, in order to deny its use to the enemy.
Originally, this battalion was matched with the same platoon-sized landing craft based around Altagracia. Given the longer voyage and rougher seas, however, Menghean commanders viewed these as inadequate. The Navy responded by submitting a design request for a mid-size landing ship with improved stability, range, and capacity, including the ability to transport heavy vehicles. Dayashinese reconnaissance aircraft photographed one of these ships at Gyŏngsan in 1975, and at least six separate hulls were identified by 1979.