Sejong the Great-class destroyer

ROKS Sejong the Great (DDG-991) during the 2008 Busan International Fleet Review
Class overview
Builders:
Operators:  Republic of Korea Navy
Preceded by: Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin class
Cost: $923 million (per ship)[1]
Planned: 6
Completed: 3
Active: 3
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement:
  • 8,500 tons standard displacement
  • 11,000 tons full load
Length: 165 m (541 ft 4 in)
Beam: 21.4 m (70 ft 3 in)
Draft: 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:
Speed: exceeds 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range: 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi)
Complement: 300-400 crew members
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • AN/SPY-1D(V) multi-function radar
  • AN/SPG-62 fire control radar
  • DSQS-21BZ hull mounted sonar
  • MTeQ towed array sonar system
  • Sagem Infrared Search & Track (IRST) system
Electronic warfare
& decoys:		 LIG Nex1 SLQ-200K Sonata electronic warfare suite[2]
Armament:
Aircraft carried: Hangar for two Super Lynx or SH-60 Seahawk, one more on landing pad

The Sejong the Great-class destroyers (Sejongdaewang-Ham or Hangul: 세종대왕급 구축함, Hanja: 世宗大王級驅逐艦), also known as KD-III, are guided missile destroyers of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). The second ship was commissioned in August 2010. As of 2010, the ROKN has committed itself to deploy three ships with an option for three more.[3]

Background

The ship features the Aegis Combat System (Baseline 7 Phase 1) combined with AN/SPY-1D multi-function radar antennae.

The Sejong the Great class is the third phase of the South Korean navy's Korean Destroyer eXperimental (KDX) program, a substantial shipbuilding program, which is geared toward enhancing ROKN's ability to successfully defend the maritime areas around South Korea from various modes of threats as well as becoming a blue-water navy.

At 8,500 tons standard displacement and 11,000 tons full load, the KDX-III Sejong the Great destroyers are by far the largest destroyers in the South Korean navy,[4] and built slightly bulkier and heavier than Arleigh Burke-class destroyers or Atago-class destroyers to accommodate 32 more missiles. KDX-III are currently the largest surface warfare ships to carry the Aegis combat system.[5]

Armaments

Sejong the Great-class destroyers' main gun is the 127 mm/L62 Mk. 45 Mod 4 naval gun, an improved version of the same gun used on other warships from several foreign nations. Point-defense armaments include one 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS and a RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile Block 1 21-round launcher, the first Aegis platform to carry RAM.[6] Anti-aircraft armament consists of SM-2 Block IIIA and IIIB[7][8] in 80-cell VLS. Anti-submarine warfare armaments consists of both K-ASROC Hong Sahng-uh (Red Shark) anti-submarine rockets and 32 K745 LW Cheong Sahng-uh (Blue Shark) torpedoes. Anti-ship capability is provided by 16 SSM-700K Hae Sung (Sea Star) long-range anti-ship missile, each with performance similar to the U.S. Harpoon. Land-attack capability is provided by the recently developed Hyunmoo-3C (Guardian of the Northern Sky) cruise missile, which is similar to the U.S. Tomahawk.

Missile batteries

Capabilities

ROKS Sejong the Great

Sejong the Great-class destroyers' are often compared to the Arleigh Burke and Atago classes because they utilize the AN/SPY-1 multi-function radar, have similar propulsion and capabilities. One notable difference between the Sejong the Great-class ships and Arleigh Burkes is the number of VLS cells. Destroyers of the Sejong the Great class will have a capacity of 128 missiles, as opposed to 96 on the Arleigh Burke class (although ships in the Arleigh Burke class have the capability to quad-pack 4 ESSM missiles into one launch cell, greatly increasing armament) and the Japanese Atago-class destroyers. The Sejong the Great class is thus one of the most heavily armed ships in the world[9] second only to the Kirov-class battlecruiser with 352 missiles. Another similarity to Arleigh Burke Flight IIA and Atago-class destroyers is the presence of full facilities for two helicopters, a feature missing from earlier Arleigh Burke and Kongō-class destroyers.

Three of these destroyers have, according to South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, the capability to "track and monitor any missile launched from anywhere from the North." This capability was demonstrated by the tracking of a North Korean missile in April 2009.[10]

Hull names

On April 20, 2007, Chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Korea Navy announced that the lead ship of KDX-III class destroyers will be referred as Sejong the Great. Sejong the Great (Hangul: 세종대왕) is the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He is credited with the creation of the Korean alphabet, Hangul.

Ships in the class

 Name   Number   Builder   Launched   Commissioned   Decommissioned   Status 
Sejong the Great (Korean: Sejongdaewang) DDG-991 Hyundai Heavy Industries 25 May 2007 22 December 2008 Active
Yulgok Yi I DDG-992 Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering 14 November 2008 31 August 2010 Active
Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong DDG-993 Hyundai Heavy Industries 24 March 2011 30 August 2012 Active

See also

References

External links

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