Hwangsa-class training ship

The Hwangsa-class training ships are a pair of large, non-sailing training ships operated by the Menghean Navy. They were ordered as replacements for the Gangwŏn-class training ships. Like their predecessors, they are primarily designed to train officer cadets in navigation and house classrooms at sea, but they are also armed and equipped to serve as low-capability escort and support ships in wartime.

Design and description

The Hwangsa-class training ships are designed to accommodate 58 officers (including instructors), 142 enlisted crew, and up to 380 officer cadets. This is a significant increase over the 82-cadet capacity of the Gangwŏn-class training ships. This allows the Hwangsa-class training ships to conduct longer voyages at sea, as opposed to rotating between different cadet groups, and leaves room for future growth in the manpower of the Menghean Navy.

In terms of armament and sensors, the Hwangsas are the most combat-capable training ships in Septentrion, with a 76mm gun forward, eight self-defense-length Mark 41 VLS cells, a hull sonar, a GBM-23/5 Close-in weapon system, and a hangar for an anti-submarine helicopter. In times of war, they can be pressed into service as low-capability escorts, particularly in rear areas where enemy threats are unlikely but not impossible. They also have space on the exposed quarterdeck and in a semi-enclosed compartment under the hangar for twelve 20-foot ISO containers, four of which can be exposed and at the stern. This allows the mounting of modular mission containers, which can augment the ship's capability depending on the requirements of a patrol--a system first pioneered in Menghe by the Muran-class corvettes. The following module sets are believed to exist:

• Enhanced submarine detection 1 (towed array sonar module, electronics module, operator module)
• Enhanced submarine detection 2 (variable-depth sonar module, electronics module, operator module)
• Mine clearance 1 (remotely piloted minehunting sonar module, electronics module, operator module)
• Mine clearance 2 (mine defusing UUV module, operator module)
• Anti-shipping 1 (missile module (4 × YDH-26), operator module)
• Anti-shipping 2 (missile module (16x YGJ-82), operator module)
• Medical support (details unknown)
• SIGINT/ELINT analysis (details unknown)

The containers are loaded onto the exposed section of the quarterdeck by a crane ashore, then pushed or winched forward along rails by the crew, with the support modules sheltered under the semi-enclosed deck and the combat modules kept in the exposed aft positions. Typical practice, as of 2021, involves sets of modules being stored at major naval bases, where they can be loaded onto either Muran-class corvettes operating from that base or Hwangsa-class training ships visiting that base.

The rails used to support and move the containers can also carry two rows of naval mines, allowing the ships to serve as large minelayers.

Operational service

Because of her massive increase in passenger capacity compared to YD-451 Kangjin, which she replaced, YD-455 Hwangsa was substantially below cadet capacity on her first training voyage. To take up the empty space, she picked up a group of naval cadets from Ummayah and Qusayn, a group of high-school-age cadets from Choe Tae-hyŏn Navy School in Sunju, and a group of specially-approved state journalists from the Military Publicity Agency, part of the Ministry of National Defense. Owing to their large capacity, there has been some discussion of using the Hwangsa-class training ships to train naval officers in all other Namhae Front member and observer states, and to train high-school-age students in Menghe's Gundae Hakgyo.

On 6 April 2022, YD-455 Hwangsa was seen entering Puerto Alegre, a substantial deviation from her announced training route. There, she took on two enhanced submarine detection module sets, refueled, and resupplied. She then left port on 9 April, shortly before the outbreak of the Second Pan-Septentrion War. From there, she conducted an anti-submarine patrol in the South Menghe Sea, eventually arriving at the Songsu-do Naval Base to let off her officer cadets, who had been kept on board during the voyage.