Plan 1212 submarine rescue ship
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Plan 1212 is the design index for a class of three submarine rescue ships produced for the Menghean Navy in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They feature a cargo hold and forward work deck with a high-capacity crane to support the deployment of various types of rescue chambers and deep-submergence rescue vehicles. These ships were commissioned with permanent hull numbers but no unique names.
Development
On 12 March 1995, the Plan 328 class submarine J-555 experienced a catastrophic fire and internal explosion while on patrol in the East Menghe Sea, eventually settling on the seabed after taking on water through a rupture in her hull. Because she was operating at periscope depth at the time the fire broke out, she was able to send out a distress signal and report her approximate location to the Menghean Navy, which promptly located the sub and dispatched the Plan 1243 submarine rescue ship BJG-2552 to bring up the trapped survivors. Unfortunately, J-555 had settled on the seabed at a depth of 307 meters, slightly in excess of its safe operating depth and well beyond the safe operating depth of the rescue chambers carried by BJG-2552. After two failed attempts to recover the survivors, the Menghean Navy formally requested help from a Dayashinese submarine rescue ship which had moved into the area following news of the accident.
Although all 48 surviving crew were eventually brought to the surface, the Menghean government resented having to rely on foreign support to rescue its own submariners, especially as the Renkaku Islands were still under dispute at this time. Consequently, in April of 1995, the Menghean Ministry of National Defense ordered immediate design work on a larger and more modern class of submarine rescue ship which would be capable of rescuing submariners in larger numbers from all possible crash depths. The leading proposal, designated Plan 1212, was approved for construction in 1997, with the contract for three ships awarded to a civilian yard in Gyŏngsan. The first ship in the class, BJG-2554, was commissioned in 2000, and her sister ships were commissioned in 2002 and 2003.
Description
The Plan 1212 submarine rescue ship is laid out like a civilian cargo ship, with her superstructure in the aft half and a wide working deck forward of the bridge behind a raised forecastle. The working deck is dominated by a massive 120-ton capacity crane, which can lift objects from the deck or cargo hold into the water. Because Menghe was still evaluating a variety of different deep-submergence rescue vehicles while design work was underway, and to accommodate the future introduction of new DSRV classes and rescue equipment, the crane, cargo hold, and deck cradle are all designed with generous space and mass margins, and a crane-forward configuration was chosen over a design with an amidships moon pool or athwartships overhanging gantry crane, which would constrain the size of the DSRV to be used. As built, the Plan 1212 submarine rescue ships can embark one diving chamber, one large DSRV on an external cradle, and one small DSRV or two rescue chambers inside the cargo hold.
Aft of the superstructure is a large landing pad for search and rescue helicopters. Although the Plan 1212 design lacks a hangar to embark helicopters full-time, the landing pad allows temporary embarkation of a land-based helicopter during a search and rescue mission, or refueling of a land-based helicopter in between flights.
Other roles and missions
Because submarine accidents are relatively uncommon, the Plan 1212 ships are designed to undertake a variety of other roles when not responding to submarine distress calls. These include:
- Testing new models of DSRV, UUV, and submersible;
- Training crews in submarine rescue operations;
- Conducting marine salvage missions, including the recovery of submarine wrecks; and
- Firefighting at sea, in support of burning ships and platforms.
They are not equipped to operate as submarine tenders or surface ship tenders, as these missions are already handled by other ship classes in Navy service. As such, they are classified as submarine rescue ships (Menghean hull type BJG), rather than multirole submarine support ships.
On all missions and patrols, each ship in the Plan 1212 class is required to carry at least one DSRV or deep-sea diving chamber on board, as well as crew or operators trained in submarine rescue operations, so that it may divert from its normal route in order to respond to emergencies as necessary.
Unlike the salvage, rescue, and firefighting ships of the Menghean Maritime Rescue Service--since 2017, the Menghean Maritime Security Force--the three Plan 1212 ships are directly operated by the Menghean Navy, rather than by a civilian or paramilitary organization. In addition to providing a more direct chain of command between the Navy's submarine force and the rescue unit, this also allows the Menghean Navy to maintain greater secrecy around any lost submarines or salvaged equipment.