This Destroyer Is The Reason Every Navy Fear South Korea

By Georgios Mavridis

14 Nov 2021

It is is one of the most powerful destroyers in the world and particularly standout in Asia.

Destroyers are the main vessels that protect the fleet against any possible threat in the sea. The most advanced ships of that type can provide defense against enemy aircraft, ships, and submarines. So, it’s easy to understand that advanced destroyers are key weapons for navies.

A great example is the Sejong, the Great Class that is one of the most powerful destroyers in the world and particularly standout in Asia.

Development And Capabilities

South Korea’s navy has started a program called the Korean Destroyer Experimental (KDX) that features Sejong the Great-class destroyers in its third phase. The military ship (and the whole program in general) is an attempt of the Republic of Korea Navy to protect its coasts and meanwhile upgrade its navy capabilities and become a blue-water navy. A blue-water navy is capable to deploy part of its fleet all around the globe.

The vessel was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. In total, the cost per ship is estimated to be $932 million. That is noticeably cheaper regarding the $1.8 billion costs of an Arleigh Burke destroyer. In total, three Sejong destroyers have been built, and another three are under construction in 2021.

The typical armament for the ship is 127 mm/L62 Mk. naval gun (a gun that is used in other warships too), a 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS and RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher for defense, and an SM-2 Block IIA and IIB missiles for anti-aircraft actions.

The last two missiles are launched through an 80-cell vertical launching system. Plus, the K-ASROC (Red Shark) rockets and K745 LW (Blue Shark) torpedoes are being used against submarines. Last but not least, the SSM-700K (Sea Star) is a long-range anti-ship missile, and the Hyunmoo-3C (Guardian of the Northern Sky) is a cruise missile used for land attacks.

Except for the armament, the destroyers are equipped with very effective systems that can perform outstandingly well. For example, the vessels can detect every missile launched from North Korea, a feature specially requested for the exact ship. Other things like the radar and propulsion are very similar to the ones used in Arleigh Burke’s destroyers.

Here’s Why Every Navy Fear the Sejong Destroyer

Sejong the Great-class destroyer is not an ordinary destroyer and, of course, not an ordinary warship in general. We mentioned the armament of the battleship, but we didn’t refer to any numbers, right? Well, we wanted to keep it for the end. First, we should inform you that a decisive feature of battleships is the number of Vertical Landing System (VLS) cells.

The Sejong the Great-Class has in total a capacity of 128 vertical launching system cells, and that means it can launch 128 missiles vertically. If that doesn’t say much to you, consider that the top-class US Arleigh Burkey destroyers have 96 cells per vessel. If we compare the ship to other advanced battleships like the Chinese Type 055 destroyers (112 VLS cells) and the US Ticonderoga-class cruiser (122 VLS cells) the Sejong destroyer still wins the comparison.

The only warship that has more VLS cells is the Russian Kirov-class battlecruiser that has an outstanding capacity of 352 missiles. Of course, the Kirov-class is not a destroyer at all, that’s why we can’t fully compare the two ships. On the point, the Sejong destroyer is one of the most deadly and armed vessels in the world and cable to cause great damage to every navy’s fleet.

Courtesy: hotcaes.com