Plan 145 submarine chaser

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DChS-2015 1974 2022-10-31.png
DChS-2015 in 1974
Class overview
Builders:
  • Anchŏn Small Boat Naval Yard
  • Hwasŏng Nampo Military Shipyard
Preceded by: Kronshtadt-class submarine chaser
Succeeded by: Plan 805 submarine chaser
Built: 1971-1983
In commission: 1974-2013
Completed: 38
Scrapped: 36
Preserved: 2
General characteristics
Displacement: 440 tonnes
Length: 59.8 m overall
Beam: 7.2 m
Draught: 2.5 m (keel, full load)
Propulsion:
  • 4 × diesel engine, 8,000 shp
  • 4 shafts
Speed: 30.4 knots
Range: 2,000 nmi (3,700 km) at 14 kts)
Complement: 74
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:
  • 2 × 2 50mm AA gun (HDGP-50/2)
  • 2 × 2 23mm AA gun (ZU-23-2)
  • 4 × 5 210mm ASW rocket tube (HBDJ-21/5)
  • 2 × 1 depth charge thrower
  • 12 mines when loaded

The Plan 145 submarine chasers were a class of small patrol vessel built in the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe during the 1970s. Initially, they were designated as small anti-submarine patrol ships (sohyŏng dae-jamsuham chogyeham), but after the 1995 ship reclassification they were retroactively reclassified as coastal anti-submarine patrol ships.

During the 1990s, these ships were repurposed as patrol ships for the Maritime Border Security Force, retaining their anti-submarine weapons so that they could serve as auxiliary escorts in wartime. All have been retired from Menghean service, though some were exported to Polvokia and remain in use there.

Description

The Plan 145 submarine chasers were developed as successors to the Kronshtadt-class submarine chasers exported to Menghe by Letnia during the 1960s. Compared to these ships, they had a somewhat more advanced hull sonar and a higher top speed. Nevertheless, within the context of the 1970s, the submarine chaser concept was of debatable value, and these ships were mostly limited to coastal operations.

Armament consisted of two twin 50mm gun turrets, using the same 50mm medium-caliber AA guns developed by Menghe during the Pan-Septentrion War in open-topped, water-cooled mounts. A simple optical gun director forward of the radar mast allowed central aiming and firing of these weapons. Higher up on the superstructure were two twin 23mm ZU-23-2 anti-air guns, again in open-topped mounts; these mounts were unpowered and had local aiming only, with no separate gun directors. On the foredeck, these ships were armed with four HBDJ-21/5 anti-submarine rocket launchers, each one with five 210mm manually reloaded tubes, all in fixed, forward-firing mounts. On the quarterdeck, the Plan 145 submarine chasers were built with depth charge racks and fixed, outward-facing depth charge throwers; these were removed in the late 1980s.

Operators