The ''Gwanggaeto the Great''-class destroyers (), often called KDX-I, are

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s, but are classified by some as

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

s, operated by the

Republic of Korea Navy The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN; ), also known as the ROK Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, South Korean armed forces, responsible for naval and Amphibious warfare, amphibious operations. The South ...

. It was the first phase of

ROKN The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN; ), also known as the ROK Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the South Korean armed forces, responsible for naval and amphibious operations. The South Korean navy includes the Republic of Korea Marine C ...

's KDX program, in moving the ROK Navy from a coastal defence force to a

blue-water navy A blue-water navy is a Navy, maritime force capable of operating globally, essentially across the deep waters of open oceans. While definitions of what actually constitutes such a force vary, there is a requirement for the ability to exercise Co ...

Development

The KDX-I was designed to replace the old destroyers in the ROKN that were transferred from the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

in the 1950s and 1960s. It was thought to be a major turning point for the ROKN in that the launching of the first KDX-I meant that ROKN finally had a capability to project power far from its shores. After the launching of the ship, there was a massive boom in South Korean international participation against piracy and

military operations other than war Military operations other than war (MOOTW) are military operations that do not involve warfare, combat, or the threat or use of violence. They generally include peacekeeping, peacebuilding, disaster response, humanitarian aid, military enginee ...

Description

Weapon systems

The primary weapon deployed by ''Gwanggaeto the Great''-class vessels is the Super Lynx helicopter, which acts in concert with shipboard sensors to seek out and destroy submarines at long distances from the ships. The ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class also carries a close-in anti-submarine weapon in the form of the Mark 46 torpedoes, launched from triple torpedo tubes in launcher compartments either side of the forward end of the helicopter hangar. A secondary anti-shipping role is supported by the

RGM-84 Harpoon The Harpoon is an all-weather, Over-the-horizon radar, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The Standoff Land Attack Missile , AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) ...

surface-to-surface missile, mounted in two quadruple launch tubes at the main deck level between the funnel and the helicopter hangar. For anti-aircraft self-defense, the ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class carries 16 RIM-7P

Sea Sparrow The RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a U.S. ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile ...

. The ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class also carries two 30mm

Goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

to provide a shipboard point-defense against incoming anti-ship missiles and aircraft. The main gun on the

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...

is an OTO Melara 127 gun.

Propulsion

The ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class is powered by two General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines and two SsangYong 20V 956 TB 82 diesel engines. The ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class can reach a maximum speed of 30 knots.

Construction

All ''Gwanggaeto the Great''-class destroyers were built by the

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; ; ; ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "''dae''" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerate) and aut ...

Heavy Industries Co., Inc. at

Geoje Geoje (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city located in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is located near Busan. Hanwha Ocean in Okpo and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in Gohyeon are both located on Geoje Island. The cit ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. In 1989, Daewoo Heavy Industries began working on the 4,000-ton destroyer which is now the secondary destroyer of the Korean navy, and the achievement was made through DSME's 100% design engineering for the first time in Korea. The keel of the first ship was planned to have been laid down in late 1992 and the ship was planned to be completed in 1996. But due to definition studies that lasted until late 1993, the construction of the first ship did not started until April 1994 with the first steel cutting at Daewoo shipyard in Okpo.

Modernisation/Mid-Life Update

It was reported on April 27, 2016, that the KDX-1 class will undergo a limited mid-life upgrade at a cost of 67.41 billion won, aimed at replacing obsolete foreign equipment. The original command and control system (BAeSEMA SSCS Mk-7 combat management system) was replaced with Hanwha System's combat management system (likely Naval Shield ICMS), the installation of a domestic Towed Array Sonar System (TASS, likely from MteQ), LINK-16 and general equipment overhaul. The first vessel, ROKS ''Yang Man-chun'' completed the upgrade in September 2020 at DSME, while the second vessel, ROKS ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' completed the upgrade in November 2021 and the final vessel, ROKS ''Ulchi Mundok'' completed the upgrade in December 2021.

Ships in the class

''Bhumibol Adulyadej'' class

The is a modification of the ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class for the

Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy (Abbreviation, Abrv: RTN, ทร.; , ) is the Navy, naval warfare force of Thailand. Established in 1906, it was modernised by the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse (1880–1923) who is known as the father of the Royal N ...

. It differs from the ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class with the addition of stealth features. * (Active) * HTMS ''Prasae'' (Postponed)

Citations

References

External links

ROKN Navy website on KDX-I

{{Republic of Korea Navy ships Destroyer classes