''Go Jun Bong''-class tank landing ship (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

: 고준봉급 전차상륙함,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 孤準峰級戰車上陸艦) is an amphibious landing ship class of the

Republic of Korea Navy The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN; ko, 대한민국 해군), also known as the ROK Navy or South Korean Navy, is the naval warfare service branch of the South Korean armed forces, responsible for naval and amphibious operations. The ROK Navy i ...

Development

In the late 1980s the

decided to gradually replace its aging fleet of WW2 era ''LST-542''-class tank landing ships (renamed ''Un Bong'' class) bought from the US Navy in 1958. A three phase plan was laid out to develop new landing ships to meet the demands of modern amphibious and transport operations. The first phase was designated as the LST-I project, and development and design started in 1987 by Korea Tacoma, currently

Hanjin Heavy Industries HJ Shipbuilding & Construction Company, Ltd. (Korean: 주식회사 HJ중공업, Hanja: 株式會社HJ重工業), formerly Korea Shipbuilding & Engineering Corporation (Korean: 대한조선공사, Hanja: 大韓造船公社) and Hanjin Heavy Ind ...

. After 4 years of development, the lead ship ''Go Jun Bong'' (LST-681) was launched in 1991. Three more ships followed and all four ships were commissioned by 1998. The second phase, or LST-II, was originally planned to import four ''Newport''-class tank landing ships, but after being postponed due to budget issues, it was changed in favor for domestic built 4500 ton LPDs to be commissioned by 2013-2016.Chosun Daily - 4천500t급 차기상륙함 윤곽 드러나 10/9/2007
These ships will ultimately replace the ''Un Bong'' class and ''Go Jun Bong''-class tank landing ships. LST-III was to build two mid-size helicopter amphibious landing ships, and designing started in 1997. In 2001 it was renamed as the LPX project and a total of two 14,300 ton ships were ordered for the

. On July 3, 2007 the lead ship ''Dokdo'' was commissioned.

Design

''Go Jun Bong''-class tank landing ship is based on the design of the ''LST-542'' class, and thus its exterior is very similar to the ''Un Bong'' class. The ship is designed to land multiple personnel, tanks and equipment simultaneously with doors and ramps placed on both the stern and bow of the ship, unlike the ''Un Bong'' class which only has doors on the bow. It is also equipped with a turn table, saving time when loading or landing vehicles. There is also a ramp for moving trucks up to the deck, and multiple elevators for rapid cargo loading.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Go Jun Bong class tank landing ship Landing craft Amphibious warfare vessel classes Amphibious warfare vessels of the Republic of Korea Navy