South Korean defense minister: Torpedo likely sank warship

[Bluebear]

Source: AP

SEOUL, South Korea – An explosion from a torpedo likely sank a South Korean warship that went down near the tense border with North Korea last month, the South's defense minister said Sunday amid growing speculation Pyongyang may be behind the blast.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said the most likely cause of the disaster was a torpedo exploding near the ship, with the force of the underwater blast ripping the vessel apart. He did not speculate on who may have fired it.

Also Sunday, investigators who examined the front part of the ship said that a close-range, external explosion likely sank it.

Seoul has not directly blamed North Korea for the blast, but suspicion remains given the country's history of provocation and attacks on the South. Local media have increasingly been speculating the disaster was due to a North Korean attack.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100425/ap_on_re_as/as_skorea_ship_sinks

[northernlights]

1. well duh....

any idjit could have told them that, through all the initial denials. :shrug:

[MJJP21]

2. Mini Subs

The N Koreans are reported to have about 60 mini subs with the most popular being about 58 feet in length with a crew of four and eight divers.Some of these have been reportedly fitted with acoustic tiles to thwart radar detection. They also have a 40 foot submersible speedboat which operates up to 10 feet under water and carry eight people.

[NecklyTyler]

4. acoustic tiles to thwart radar detection

And wooden airplane propellers thwart sonar detection while in flight.

This is a set-up by Western governments to provide an excuse to start a war with North Korea. The Cheonan probably suffered a self inflicted accident and sank, but it is providing justification for military action against the North

[Pavulon]

9. We are already at war with north korea. Have been for 50 years?

why would we start it up again now?

[Captain Hilts]

12. Why do you think this is our doing or up to us? There is a power struggle in North Korea and

their leader is batshit crazy and in ill health.

South Korean officials also have some reasons to stoke this a bit.

It's not about us.

[Pavulon]

16. Wrong point of reply? I do not think we have anything

to do with this and agree lil kim is out of him mind.

[cowman]

11. You are so full

of s**t.
#1. sonar is for underwater detection, not flight, thats radar and radar can detect a wooden prop

#2. Why would we start another war with N. Korea when we are already involved in 2 differents wars?

#3. Know what the fuck your talking about before you start spewing your crap.

[Captain Hilts]

14. Thank you. nt

[cowman]

15. It just amazes

me how some people will always blame us no matter the circumstances and without evidence.

[Captain Hilts]

13. No, it's not "the West"'s doing. Though NK would be better off without Kim Jong Il. nt

[struggle4progress]

3. ... "A factor that is believed to be a bubble jet effect most likely caused the Cheonan to sink,

though the possibility of other causes is still under investigation," Kim said, estimating that it would take about one month before the joint investigation team comes up with its final result.

According to researchers, a bubble jet effect occurs when a mine or torpedo goes off under a ship at some distance. The bubble jet creates a huge column of water due to the change in pressure that impacts the ship ...

Politics/Diplomacy
2010/04/25 15:52 KST
(2nd LD) 'Non-contact explosion' the most likely cause of sinking: official
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2010/04/25/60/0301000000AEN20100425002000315F.HTML

[struggle4progress]

7. ... Yoon Duk-Yong, co-chairman of a joint international investigation team including US and

Australian experts, issued an interim report Sunday that no soot, melting or any explosion holes were found on the ship. "In conclusion, after the initial visual inspection of the severed surface and the inside/outside of the hull, we assume the cause is underwater explosion," Yoon said in the report. "And looking at the form of the deformation, it is highly likely that a non-contact explosion was the cause rather than a contact explosion," Yoon said, without specifying what type of explosive had been detonated ...
Torpedo 'one of most likely' causes for sunk S.Korea ship
April 25, 2010 - 5:49PM
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/torpedo-one-of-most-likely-causes-for-sunk-skorea-ship-20100425-tle1.html

[hack89]

8. It uses the force of the water to magnify the effect of the explosion

because water is incompressible, the explosion creates a massive pressure wave that pushes the center of the ship upwards, bending it like a bow. The pressure wave then collapses and the center of the ship is violently pulled the opposite direction. This violent whip lashing movement snaps the keel of the ship and sinks or cripples it.

[struggle4progress]

10. There may be some known issues like that in munition design. There may also

be UXO possibilities: local currents are strong (I understand the second half was retrieved three miles from where the ship sank), and there's no shortage of old unretrieved seamines in the world, many of which are becoming unstable with age. I'm reluctant to speculate since (as a general rule) I'm not inclined to discuss explosive engineering in detail on an anonymous public board, and I really don't know anything about the actual distribution of UXO hazards

[struggle4progress]

5. South Korean warship raised from ocean

Austin News.Net
Saturday 24th April, 2010
South Korea's military has raised the remaining section of a warship that sank last month ...
http://www.austinnews.net/story/627182

South Korea Raises Second Half of Sunken Warship
VOA News
... Salvage teams raised the stern of the 1,200-ton vessel Cheonan with a large crane Saturday.
A body was found inside the recovered section, bringing the official death toll to 40. Six sailors remain missing and are believed dead. The coast guard rescued 58 crew members from waters near the blast site ...
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/South-Korea-Raises-Second-Half-Of-Sunken-Warship-92014369.html

Crane lifts part of sunken South Korean naval ship
24 Apr 2010, 0000 hrs IST
A giant offshore crane, unseen, salvages front portion of the sunken South Korean naval ship Cheonan off Baengnyeong Island, South Korea, on Saturday, April 24, 2010. South Korea lifted remaining half of its warship on Saturday in waters near the disputed sea border with North Korea, a month after it sank following a mysterious explosion that left 46 sailors dead or missing. AP
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshowpics/5852314.cms

[struggle4progress]

6. Old sea mines still have plenty of spark (WaPo LTTE)

Saturday, April 24, 2010
... the South Korean corvette might well have struck a mine laid during the Korean War, when, with help from the Chinese, North Korea laid many thousands of mines along the coast of the Korean Peninsula. More than 100,000 sea mines of all types and sizes are strewn throughout the world's oceans, seas and littorals. Mines laid in the North Sea in World War I still occasionally damage or sink fishing vessels, and in February, two World War II mines (one German, one British) were detected in the Kattegat Strait -- between the North and Baltic seas -- and rendered safe. A 2009 NATO mine assessment concluded there could be some 80,000 mines from both wars in the English Channel and the North and Baltic seas. Since October 1945, mines have sunk or damaged nearly four times as many U.S. Navy warships as all other means of attack combined ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042304803.html

South Korean ship may have hit old mine
Published on 29 March 2010 - 7:08pm
The South Korean warship that sank Friday night after a mysterious explosion may have been hit by a North Korean mine, said the South Korean defence minister Monday. The minister said a North Korean sea mine could have drifted into the South's waters ... http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/south-korean-ship-may-have-hit-old-mine

[Ticonderoga]

17. So what does

South Korea intend to do about this?

[Imajika]

18. Nothing...

The South doesn't really want all out conflict with the North.

North Korea is a complete basket case. Their version of communism has reduced the country to a starving slave state.

No one wants to deal with 20 million starved and brainwashed North Koreans if the regime falls. It is a particular nightmare for both South Korea and China.

Of all the failed communist states that have been around, North Korea is by far and away the worst.

[Old Troop]

19. Kim needs to divert his people's attention

and a short, inconclusive conventional war would be just the trick. The North is in the hurt locker and seems to be getting worse. This link gives a pretty good idea of what's happening in parts of the North. http://goodfriendsusa.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=10