HANJIN HEAVY INDUSTRIES

HHIC holds launching ceremony for naval amphibious landing ship

- Launching ceremony of the Navy’s next-generation landing craft (LST-II) ‘Cheonwangbong’
- HHIC having made big contribution to the improvement of naval warfare capabilities for four decades with various warships such as Dokdo and Yun Young-ha

HHIC announced that it held a launching ceremony for Cheonwangbong, the Navy’s next-generation landing craft, at its Yeongdo Dockyard on September 11 with the attendance of navy men and officials including Chief of Naval Operations Choi Yoon-hee Choi and Marine Corps Commander Lee Ho-yeon, President & CEO of HHIC Choi Sung-moon and officials from Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

The ship was named ‘Cheonwangbong’ after the highest peak of Jirisan Mountain in Korea. It was set a float by the wife of Chief of Naval Operations Kim Gye-soon.

The Landing Ship Tank (LST) is a warship which can be readily deployed to support landing operations of Marine Corps at war, facilitate marine transportation, deliver military supplies to troops posted in remote islands and respond to a local war. 

The LST-II Project has been promoted to strengthen naval warfare capabilities as the existing landing ships became too old and outdated. It is scheduled to build four LSTs until 2018. HHIC designed the ship for two (2) years starting 2008 and set to build the ship in 2011.

The vessel (4,500t) is 126 meters long and 19 meters wide. It can accommodate 420 armed forces with a maximum speed of 23 knots (43km/hr). it is fully equipped with state-of-the-art electronic systems such as detecting and tracking radar, tactical air navigation system and satellite communications system, guns and Anti-Missile Decoy System (AMDS).

In particular, the operational capability has been significantly enhanced with increase in maximum speed and development of two helipads and landing operation command post. In addition, its survivability has been maximized with bullet-proof facilities, fireproof bulkhead and stealth techniques.

It can also accommodate three Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) boats which can travel at over 20 knots with one tank or nearly 100 fully armed forces, the Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV), tank, field guns, Gatling guns and various vehicles.

Compared to conventional amphibious land ships, the next-generation landing craft is far superior in terms of combat systems and survivability. It is expected that it would play a big role for the improvement of naval operational capabilities along with Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH).

With its unrivaled technology and extensive knowhow in the construction of war vessels such as Korea’s first high-speed patrol boat ‘Haksaeng’ in 1972, large transportation ship ‘Dokdo’ and Patrol Killer Guided missile (PKG), HHIC has made a contribution to the enhancement of naval warfare capabilities for almost four (4) decades.

Cheonwangbong which has been built with HHIC’s state-of-the-art technology from design to launching will be handed over to the ROK Navy in the late 2014 after acceptance testing.