 |
| ‘Choi Young-ship (4400-ton class), 33rd Jin, is departing. 2020.9.24/News1 © News1 Reporter Yeo Ju-yeon |
Choi Young-ham (4400-ton class), the 33rd Jinhae of the Qinghae unit, operating in the Gulf of Oman and Aden, was dispatched to the Strait of Hormuz to respond to the capture of Korean national merchant ships by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
According to military officials on the 5th, Choi Young-ham arrived at the sea area near Hormuz at the dawn of the morning of our time and began to perform the mission. It has been hours after reports that the Korean national petrochemical carrier’Korea Chemie’ was detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on charges of releasing pollutants into the Gulf.
However, at a regular briefing on the morning of the morning, Defense Ministry spokesman Bu Seung-chan said, “I hope that you understand that detailed explanations of the Cheonghae unit will be limited in consideration of the fact that it performs missions for the safety of our people.” I didn’t talk about the details.
The United States previously decided to continue deploying the Nimitz nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which was originally scheduled to return to the mainland, in the Middle East. This overturned Nimitz’s plan to move to the mainland announced three days ago. The US Department of Defense said in a statement that “recently, due to the Iranian threat against President Trump and the US government, it has ordered the return of the Nimitzho to be stopped.”
 |
| © News1 Designer Ilhwan Kim |
It is known that Choi Young was dispatched to Hormuz while being near Muscat Port, Oman, one of the ports of call. The government announced that it had immediately dispatched the Cheonghae unit to the waters near the Strait of Hormuz after grasping the situation of the capture of Korean merchant ships the day before.
In the future, Young-Ship Choi plans to respond to the capture by cooperating with multinational forces such as the Combined Naval Command (CMF) in Bahrain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.
The Cheonghae Corps was first established in March 2009 as an overseas dispatch unit carrying out ship protection missions in the Gulf of Aden in Somalia in Africa and the Gulf of Oman in the Middle East. The Chungmugong Yi Sunshin class destroyer (DDH-II) with ocean operation capability is being deployed every 4 to 5 months.
The Cheonghae unit consists of more than 300 people, including a checkpoint and search team consisting of special warfare squadrons (UDT) and aviation squadrons operating maritime operational helicopters (LYNX).
In particular, the Cheonghae unit is carrying out a mission to protect the Korean people and ships by expanding the scope of operations to the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf in accordance with the government’s decision to temporarily expand the dispatch area of the Cheonghae unit since January of last year.
Choi Young-ham, dispatched to Hormuz, is the sixth dispatch of the Cheonghae unit.
The Choi Young ship is equipped with a Korean-type missile vertical launch system (KVLS) and is equipped with a red shark anti-submarine missile for submarine operations, a blue shark light torpedo, a marine cruise missile for an anti-ship, an anti-ship proximity defense missile (RAM), a guided missile for maritime anti-aircraft defense SM-2, It is equipped with armament systems such as close defense system goalkeeper and 127mm guns.
When Choi Young-ham performed his first mission to dispatch troops to the 6th Division of the Cheonghae Unit in January 2011, he successfully performed the’Operation Aden Bay Dawning’ to rescue all 21 crew members of the Samho Jewelry who were captured by Somali pirates. On April 21 of the same year, the’Operation to rescue the Hanjin Tenjin crew’ was also successfully completed.