Cheonan Corvette: a story without a final conclusion

Corvette Cheonan

The death of the South Korean corvette "Cheonan" was so difficult history, in which truth, half-truth, fiction, falsehood and concealment of facts, which even now, ten years later, is not easy to understand, are intricately intertwined. Due to some political events, it acquired in some places anecdotal character. I do not see tragedies in the death of sailors - it was their duty and oath, especially since the corvette was very close to the hostile waters.

Corvette with combat experience

Corvette "Cheonan" (English name ROKS Cheonan, tactical number - PCC-772), class "Pohang". Displacement 1200 tons, length 88 meters. The maximum stroke is 32 knots. It was an anti-submarine corvette. Onboard there are 6 torpedo tubes (Mark 46 torpedoes), 12 bombers (Mark 9 depth charges), as well as two 76-mm guns, two 40-mm guns and four launchers of the Garpun anti-ship missile system.

The ship was launched in 1989, the fourteenth ship in the series, and in the same year was commissioned fleet. On June 15, 1999, the corvette took part in the first battle near Yonphendo Island (east of the Pennёndo Island, near which the corvette later died, on the same Northern demarcation line). North Korean torpedo boats, patrol ship and patrol boats exchanged fire with South Korean corvettes and patrol boats. The Cheonan fired from its 76 mm and 40 mm cannons, so the southerners won. They managed to sink the North Korean torpedo boat, seriously damage the patrol ship and get into patrol boats. The Cheonan sustained light feed damage.

So the ship was with history and participation in a real battle. Which makes the whole story of his death even stranger. Nevertheless, the crew, and especially the officers, some of whom could serve on the ship from the moment of the battle, knew very well that they were in the waters, where there could be all sorts of surprises from sworn compatriots, and there was some chance of being attacked.

Some solid facts

Strange things do not end there, but only envelop the story of the corvette's death even more densely. In fact, in the whole heap of statements, reports, and various information leaked to the press, there are very few facts that would be established quite firmly.

Known date, time and place. March 26, 2010 at 21.33 local time, when the corvette was located about a mile west of the island of Pannyondo, a strong explosion occurred. Five minutes later, the corvette broke into two parts. The stern sank near the site of the explosion at a depth of 130 meters, and the bow carried to the southern part of the island 3,5 miles from the site of the explosion, and it sank at a depth of 20 meters so that a small part of the hull protruded from the water. Of the 104 crew members, 46 were killed; Interestingly, all the officers survived.

Both parts of the corvette were then raised, examined and then placed in the naval memorial. The destruction was more than impressive and showed that the corvette was destroyed by a powerful underwater explosion.

General view of the destruction

Reliable facts include the study of an underwater explosion seismogram made in 2014 by a group of researchers (So Gu Kim - Korean Seismological Institute, Efim Gitterman - Geophysical Institute, Israel, Orlando Rodriguez - University of the Algarve, Portugal), which determined that the explosion power was 136 kg of TNT, the explosion occurred at a depth of 8 meters with a sea depth of 44 meters. This conclusion, by the way, refutes the opinion that the corvette ran into an old bottom mine, which was placed in this area in the 1970s. Bottom mines are equipped with a much larger explosive charge, up to a ton or more, and the calculated explosion power more closely matches the charge of a torpedo.

Also, employees of the University of Virginia (USA) and the University of Manitoba (Canada), Son Hong Lee and Pansok Yang, carried out spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction studies of samples of the substance taken from the tail of the torpedo (presumably North Korean), from the corvette body and the control sample obtained from the test explosion. South Korean experts believed that the substance is an aluminum oxide formed during the explosion. However, X-ray diffraction analysis showed that it was not aluminum oxide, in addition, the data for the three samples did not match and the third sample did not match the first two. Comparison with control samples showed that the samples taken from the torpedo and the corvette body correspond to aluminum hydroxide, a substance that does not form during the explosion, but which forms during corrosion of aluminum in sea water, and it is continuous. Researchers concluded that the South Korean report bears signs of falsification and therefore is invalid.

The very appearance of the main material evidence, presented by South Korean experts, has already raised strong doubts. Is it really possible to seriously believe that this torpedo, which was pretty much lying in the water with obvious signs of corrosion, was the very torpedo that drowned the Cheonan?

There was some controversy, in my opinion, to no avail: the parties remained unconvinced. It is understandable, because it was proved that the torpedo fragment presented by the South Koreans was not related to the explosion under the corvette.

A paradoxical situation. It is known for sure that the corvette was blown up and sank, but how and on what - it remained unclear.

Versions, Versions ...

You need to start with firmly established facts, so that later you do not become a slave to one of the versions, which, subject to objections, has been expressed a lot. The version makes up for the absence of firmly proven facts by various assumptions, building the picture to some integrity. But with regard to the death of Cheonan, there were so few hard facts that in versions the assumptions and assumptions replaced the facts.

There are three major versions.

First: a North Korean submarine sank a corvette with its torpedo. The version in South Korea is official, and was even used at the UN to demand the imposition of sanctions on the DPRK.

Second: the corvette ran into an old bottom mine that exploded. This version was voiced at the beginning of the epic by the Ministry of Defense of South Korea.

Third: "friendly fire", that is, the corvette was sunk by a torpedo fired from an American submarine. This version is most detailed by Japanese researcher Tanaka Sakai.

Of these, you can take the first two versions.

The North Korean version is not very suitable for purely technical reasons. The torpedoes used in the DPRK CHT-02D will not undermine the corvette as it did. This type of torpedo comes (directly or with Chinese mediation) from the Soviet SAET-50 torpedo, which, in turn, comes from the German TV Zaunkönig torpedo, from which they took the homing acoustic system. It follows that, firstly, the North Korean submarine needed to go 600-800 meters to the corvette so that the homing system confidently took the target. Secondly, the system induces a torpedo to the noise of the propellers, and it explodes under the stern, in the region of the propeller-steering group.

It is worth adding here that there is information that is not generally disproved, that along with the Cheonan there was a Sokcho corvette of the same type - ROKS Sokcho (PCC-778), and it even fired at some target (this is the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan already refuted), and that the corvette or corvettes constantly used active sonar. So the northerners would not be able to approach the distance of a confident shot, especially to two corvettes at once, without being detected. Shooting from afar - wasting a torpedo. In addition, the corvette was blown up in the engine room area, and its screws and rudders are intact (the screws are slightly bent, but the cause of the damage is unclear; possibly, they bent when lifting). That is, it was not a North Korean torpedo and not a North Korean attack.

The feed of the corvette, as we see, is completely intact

The version about the bottom mine has already been largely refuted by indicating the depths. Bottom mines can be set to a depth of 40-50 meters, and in this area there were very large-scale underwater minefields in the 1970s (Tanaka mentions the setting of 136 bottom mines). However, over time, the batteries are discharged and the mine comes into an unfit state. The mine delivered at that time certainly couldn’t undermine anything in 2010, because it lay in the water for more than 30 years. Undermining a ship on an old and already incapable of exploding bottom mine is possible only when the ship is bulked onto it, which can only be in shallow water. Analysis of the seismogram of the explosion showed that under the keel of the Cheonan there were 44 meters, that is, this is not his case.

The version about the bottom mine was born in the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the very first hours after reports that the nose of the corvette was found in shallow water near the island of Pannyondo, and in conditions of acute lack of information and the need to give at least some explanation of what happened, the version of the bottom mine this is the first thing that comes to mind.

Now only the version about the American torpedo remains. Despite the fact that it looks very conspiratorial, and Tanaka Sakai’s presentation is also unreliable, because it involves the death of an American submarine, which is easily refuted by comparison with the list of dead boats. It is impossible to hide the loss of a combat unit and the death of a crew.

Technically, I think, “friendly fire” is possible, since it better matches the picture of a ship blasting. The torpedo Mark 48 has an active sonar guidance system, as well as, according to some information, a device for responding to the ship’s magnetic and electromagnetic field. With such equipment, the torpedo really aims at the midship of the ship and explodes under the keel where the ship’s magnetic and electromagnetic field is the strongest, that is, in the engine room area, where the most massive steel parts are, where the generator is located.

Therefore, I believe that the version with "friendly fire" looks the most likely and it explains why this whole international scandal with the DPRK accusations flared up. He had to cover up some unsightly sides of what had happened.

What could be?

I will draw up my version of events based on the American, but with amendments. It, like any version, provides for some logical reconstruction of the events that we know are extremely incomplete and inaccurate. In the case of the Cheonan corvette, only a tiny fraction of the really useful information reached the public, despite all the hype and multilateral expert commissions.

In fact, my version boils down to the fact that on the evening of March 26, 2010, two South Korean corvettes and an American submarine met west of Pennondo Island. Why they ended up in this area is unknown; this could be part of the Key Resolve / Foal Eagle exercises that took place at that time (according to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the stage of the exercises with the development of anti-submarine missions took place elsewhere, 75 miles from the island; the ministry stated that Cheonan did not participate in the exercises ), but could be a separate operation, possibly related to reconnaissance missions, in order to feel the northerners. In general, they met, they did not recognize each other, it is not known why. It can be assumed that the southerners discovered the periscope of the boat, decided that it was a North Korean boat and fired at it. It is possible that Sokcho opened fire; it remains unclear whether he shot before the explosion or after. Apparently, they also intended to succumb to depth charges. The American boat also did not recognize the allied corvettes and, having come under fire, considered them hostile ships, responding to the shelling by a torpedo. Shot and hit. Then the boat went to the island, about three miles from the site of the explosion and, perhaps, was there for some time. In any case, Tanaka Sakai writes with references to South Korean sources about the discovery of a third underwater object, except for the sunken stern and bow of the corvette. Soon this object disappeared somewhere. If the boat still got damaged, then moving away to the island and patting up is a perfectly reasonable decision for submariners. When the situation cleared up and a rescue operation began, the boat went to base.

Map from an article by Japanese researcher Tanaka Sakai: the red dot is the site of the explosion. The blue dot to the west of the place of the explosion is the place of flooding of the stern; the blue dot east of the explosion is the site of flooding of the nose. The yellow dot is the location of a certain underwater object

In principle, this happens. Moreover, according to some information leaked to the South Korean press, the command was not so good. For example, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, General Lee Sang-yi, was drunk that evening, so much so that he could not come to the command center, and then tried to hide it. The incident cost him the post, he resigned in June 2010. Well, if the head of the headquarters committee during the large-scale (largest) military exercises so lays behind his uniform collar, then what is it to be surprised that the allied ships at night in the sea, near enemy waters, started firing at each other?

Brave South Korean four-star general Lee Sang-yi, drunk on the evening of the death of the corvette

All the hysteria surrounding the death of Cheonan had a powerful political, primarily domestic political motive: in this way different parties and factions in the South Korean establishment solved their tasks. They were not at all embarrassed by the fact that they actually attributed a brilliant victory to the North Korean submarine fleet: the boat approached the anti-submarine corvettes unnoticed, threw a torpedo into one of them, and left without being discovered. Upper class! The memorial in which the Cheonan was installed after the rise turned out to be, in fact, a memorial in honor of North Korean submariners, where excursions were taken at the state expense, they told and showed how the northerners of the South Korean fleet beat as they want.

Watching the tantrum in South Korea, I asked myself only one question: if the war, then the northerners will drown the southerners in a bucket? So it turns out, or what?

So the official version (as if a North Korean submarine was sunk by a corvette) needs to be considered precisely from a political point of view, since it is technically untenable and has caused numerous objections even in South Korea itself, up to the point that skeptics were threatened with a repressive national security law.

There are many gaps and missing details in this story. And I can express my confidence that we will learn about this exactly only after decades, when archives will be available and some meticulous historian will get to them.

Comments

[svp67]

It is interesting and very "mysterious", but the "prints" of explosives on the remains of the ship and the explosives, as I understand it, could not be found or the results of this examination were classified, since they could determine the country of origin

[Kote Pan Kokhanka]

Thanks to the author, I did not know about the incident described above!

[cost]

So far, official Seoul has not released the recordings of cameras installed on Pannyon Island and conducting round-the-clock shooting in the infrared range.
There are shots taken when the ship was immersed in water, the moment the South Korean Navy boats arrived to help, but there are no shots that capture the moment of the explosion or other event that led to the death of the ship. The representative of the Ministry of Defense replied that the government decided to confine itself only to these personnel. The actions of the South Korean authorities, which still do not allow the rescued crew members to communicate with the outside world, are not very clear, and the relatives of the victims are carefully guarded from journalists. The day after the tragedy, family members of the then still missing sailors were called as a reason for the tragedy stranded and even brought a naval map that got into the South Korean media. Then suddenly, officials, right up to the head of state, began to assert in a voice that the cause of the death of the ship was an explosion. The version is ambiguous, because, as it turned out, Seoul was engaged in mine production in this area, trying to protect its territories from Pyongyang saboteurs. Information about the North Korean torpedo was used. However, if there was an explosion, then where are the wounded, burned and shell-shocked crew members? They are not, but it is well known that in the event of an explosion a mass of fragments is formed, a shock wave occurs, which is accompanied by a high temperature, leading to fires. Moreover, the sailors who were on the wings of the bridge survived and, it would seem, inevitably had to die - if not from the shock wave, then from fragments. In addition, the damaged ship has specific damage - pieces of skin twisted from the impact of the shock wave, traces of fire. Again, none of this exists. And the picture of the Cheonan diesel engine room below, where, according to the investigation commission, the explosion occurred, is not at all in favor of the explosion version. Not only all the equipment did not receive visible damage, but even the plastic bottle is only slightly wrinkled.
a photo snapshot of the Cheonan diesel engine room

[cost]

However, there is another version. Part of the South Korean media, independent opposition deputies insist on another reason for the death of the ship. They claim: The Cheonan collided with an American submarine.
This seemingly implausible at first glance version is pretty well argued. The main argument: the case with the ship occurred during the joint US-South Korean exercises "Fool Needles." Officially, they were supposed to end on March 22, but, according to the confessions of an American officer who gave an interview to Korean reporters, the “rattling of arms” in the area continued on March 26.
The first few days, at the crash site, there were even two destroyers under a star-striped flag equipped with the Aegis missile defense system - it is clear that their role in the rescue operation is small. It is not clear what they were doing in the disaster area. Suspicions are growing when you learn that South Korean sailors, who pulled into the area almost all of their rescue vessels and experienced divers, divers, for several weeks, "assisted" two American rescue vessels. According to statements made on the official website of the US Seventh Fleet, US vessels in the area not only helped the Koreans, but also conducted exercises. Well, you see, not the time and the wrong place for exercises!
Even more questions are caused by the visit to the crash site of senior US officials in South Korea, Ambassador Kathleen Stevens and the commander of the American contingent in Korea, General Walter Sharpe - in fact, he also leads the armed forces of Seoul in case of emergency - a little less than two weeks after what happened. Judging by the pictures, the Americans were very confused.

According to unofficial sources in Seoul, the Americans worked on the island in a strictly designated area: the bow and stern of the ship sank in different places, they were marked with two buoys. But there is evidence of a third buoy that the Americans worked on. The official press of Seoul, at first mentioning him, then, as if on command, silenced this topic. But articles already appeared in Japanese newspapers in which the version of American involvement was presented in an even more unsightly light: Cheonan discovered an American submarine, the presence of which the South Koreans had not been informed about and attacked. The Yankees replied that the US Navy submarine was damaged, although there are reports that it sank. The absence of traces of the explosion on the wreckage, and vice versa, the characteristic marks on the ship’s hull, indicate precisely the collision of the Cheonan with the submarine.

Moreover, the factor of insufficient material strength played a fateful role in the fate of the ship and its crew, some argue that its manufacturers simply “saved money” on the corvette. As a result, the Cheonan has worn out for twenty years so much that the crew were frankly afraid that the ship could sink at any moment.

[kig]

All that you are talking about - the fire, the surviving sailors on the wings of the bridge - is very easily explained. Obviously, you read inattentively: the explosion occurred in water, under the keel of the ship.

[The leader of the Redskins]

I join, colleague. Also did not hear about this disaster. Thanks to the author.

[Moskovit]

My friends traveled to South Korea for important business negotiations at a division of one very large company. They noted some abnormal level of drunkenness among Koreans, even at a high level. In the morning, one of the Korean partners did not come to the negotiations, his deputy came barely alive with a hangover and laughed off, supposedly with the boss. When they were taken to Seoul, the accompanying Koreans all the time successfully tried to get drunk. Our guys were in shock, especially alcoholics should be Russian)).

[The leader of the Redskins]

However, alcoholism doesn’t stop Koreans from releasing good cars, ships and TDs ... Strange. And in our country, if the marriage has been banished, then they immediately begin to sniff and conduct examinations))))

[Undecim]

I worked at Daewoo Motors for two years. South Koreans are really prone to increased consumption of strong drinks.

[Walking]

Repeatedly happened to be in Korea, drink a lot.

[Undecim]

And even to a pig state.

[Brylevsky]

the explosion power was 136 kg of TNT; the explosion occurred at a depth of 8 meters with a sea depth of 44 meters.

Judging by the deepening of the explosion site, it could have been either a torpedo or an anchor mine. Moreover, the torpedo was unlikely to be American: the mass of the warheads of the Mk.46 and Mk.48 torpedoes was 45 and 295 kg, respectively. The mass of an explosive charge of 136 kg is more suitable for an anchor mine (and the depths for it are suitable), which, or which, could have been put by a submarine or any warship, including a North Korean peaceful fisherman. Or it could have been some kind of "piece" specimen intended for this particular sabotage action. I do not believe that the corvette's acoustics did not keep watch on the GUS and missed the torpedo.

[tlauicol]

It follows that, firstly, the North Korean submarine needed to go 600-800 meters to the corvette so that the homing system confidently took aim

why? maybe a dashboard, not a boat?

[Glory1974]

It can be assumed that the southerners discovered the periscope of the boat, decided that it was a North Korean boat and fired at it. It is possible that Sokcho opened fire; it remained unclear whether he shot before the explosion or after. Apparently, they also intended to succumb to depth bombs.

At the same time, the boat went on the attack with the raised periscope, and when the signalman saw a breaker in the waves, the corvette opened fire on the periscope with "diving shells"
At this time, the crew rushed to the deep bombs, hands pulling them onto the bomber, and the captain gave the command to sharply change course for the attack of the submarine.
A fascinating story for the action movie.

[Brylevsky]

Also, employees of the University of Virginia (USA) and the University of Manitoba (Canada), Son Hong Lee and Pansok Yang, carried out spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction studies of samples of the substance taken from the tail of the torpedo (presumably North Korean), from the corvette body and the control sample obtained from the test explosion. South Korean experts believed that the substance is an aluminum oxide formed during the explosion.

The explosive used in naval weapons contains powdered aluminum. Was it his traces that the experts were looking for? The formation of aluminum oxide by 100% would indicate that it was the naval explosives that exploded, something like our (and North Korean) "sea mixture" or the American PBXN ...

[Brylevsky]

However, there is another version. Part of the South Korean media, independent opposition deputies insist on another reason for the death of the ship. They claim: The Cheonan collided with an American submarine.

And that is why there was a strong explosion on the ship and it fell apart? What speed did the American submarine have to go so that the impact energy would be enough to destroy the hull of the surface ship, and at the same time survive on its own? And the deepening of the explosion site? 8 meters ... In that case, the boat was supposed to "fly" in ... surface position? In any case, with a wheelhouse towering above the water. The far-fetched version ...

[vladcub]

As for the collision with the boat, I doubt it, because seismologists recorded an explosion

[Olgovich]

The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, General Lee Sang-yi, was drunk that evening, so much so that he could not come to the command center, and then tried to hide it. The incident cost him the post, he resigned in June 2010. Well, if the head of the headquarters committee during the large-scale (largest) military exercises so lays behind a uniform collar, then what is there to be surprisedthat allied ships at night in the sea, near enemy waters began to shoot at each other?

that is yes. the most mysterious events, often. simple and banal things are explained by drunkenness - in the first place of them ...

Quite possible . that here it is ..

In short, drunkenness fight!

[Shadow041]

In general, I agree with the author, but with one amendment. The submarine was most likely Japanese, not American. The United States does not have a submarine in service, and a submarine cannot constructively sink to the bottom. Most likely the damage was caused by the Japanese DPL, which lay on the bottom, in shallow water, to repair the damage, and it could shoot with an American torpedo, or its Japanese counterpart (copy)

[wehr]

This would be definitely known to the southerners, and then an anti-Japanese high would rise in Korea. There is no greater happiness for Koreans than anti-Japanese hysteria.
Here even the southerners and northerners are absolutely in solidarity.

[Oyo Sarkazmi]

Quote: wehr

This would be definitely known to the southerners, and then an anti-Japanese high would rise in Korea.

The fact that high did not rise at all speaks of the American track. Like the MN-17.
In Japan at that time there was just another high, supported even by the prime minister - the consistent closure of American bases in Okinawa. Everyone. And then "by the way" the old RK ship explodes. Juche advancing, beware, the American will help! The anti-base prime minister resigns, the bases are shrinking by a couple of hectares, but they remain.

[Vladimir_2U]

I'm crazy I’ll make my contribution, but could not the bottom mine detonate from a depth bomb fired from a frigate? Of course, the bomb exploded at some distance from the frigate, but how many could the alleged mine, which could be under the ship, react to?

[Brylevsky]

could the bottom mine have fired from a deep bomb shot from a frigate?

Why is it so difficult? The bottom mine already has something to react to ... Magnetic, hydrostatic, acoustic proximity fuses ... If the ship were above it, the mine would react to this even without the rocket bomb exploding somewhere. The article says about the depth of the explosion of 8 meters, with a depth of about 40. This is either someone's torpedo (most likely), or an anchor mine. One could also assume a bottom torpedo mine, "Captor" or "Hunter", but their combat units use torpedoes with a different explosive weight, so this option disappears. Rummage through the Internet, look for the performance characteristics of North Korean torpedoes, although there is hardly anything about them anywhere ... I am specifically interested in the mass of explosives in their warheads. If it is close to the one voiced in the article, then the conclusions, I think, will be obvious. And the hydrostatic mine detonator, yes, could react to the high pressure field, which was formed by the explosion of the depth charge.

[Vladimir_2U]

According to the conditions set by the author, bottom mines in this area have long since turned sour.

The mine that was delivered at that time definitely couldn’t undermine anything in 2010, because it lay in the water for more than 30 years

But post-war experience shows that old mines are quite capable of exploding, while FIG knows why. )))

[Undecim]

There are three major versions.
Why three?
There is also an officially expressed Chinese version that the ship was sunk by an American anti-submarine mine, similar to the Mark 60 Captor, exhibited during joint anti-submarine exercises. By the way, much more real than the conspiracy theological version of the author.
And there is also a Russian version, because the specialists of the Russian Navy in Korea also conducted their own investigation. But Russia for some reason refused to announce the results, limiting itself to disseminating information that the conclusions of international experts are "not weighty enough."

[Brylevsky]

Do you also think that the Korean ship was sunk by a mine exposed during the exercises? I hardly believe in it ... At least because the exercises are practical mines. Nevertheless, these are exercises, not war ... But, let’s say, the Chinese are right and the ship really attacked the Captor (it doesn’t matter whose one). How to link this with the fact that the warhead of this mine is a Mk 46 torpedo, the warhead weight of which is about 45 kg. And experts called the mass of explosives that destroyed the ship, much more. Someone is wrong, or experts, or Chinese ... expertise I trust more. Do you happen to know the approximate draft of this ship?

[Undecim]

You think too
I do not think anything, I just added to the version, since the author arbitrarily, according to incomprehensible criteria, voiced only three.
Do you happen to know the approximate draft of this ship?
I know for sure, nine feet and six inches (2,9 meters).

[Brylevsky]

I know for sure, nine feet and six inches (2,9 meters).

Then this means that at a depth of 8 meters a non-contact fuse worked. Torpedoes and mines are equipped with non-contact fuses ... if bottom mines could not be there “by the condition of the task”, then a torpedo remains. The warhead of the Captor and Hunter mines has a different weight, which means that the torpedo was most likely North Korean ... or the experts were mistaken in their opinions.

[Undecim]

Mark 60 Captor - one of the options. After all, there could have been an Mk 67 SLMM with a Mark 37 torpedo, in which the warhead weight is very close to the considered one - 150 kg.

[kig]

The boat was North Korean, and the American torpedo. Why not?

[APASUS]

As with the Boeing MN-17, the more information is essentially different, the more difficult it is to build a version based on facts. And with facts it is somehow bad. There are not so depths that it would be impossible to comb the bottom of robots. It seems that the investigation is being taken away from the real perpetrators

[Aviator_]

the submarine needed go up to 600-800 meters to the corvette so that the homing system confidently takes the target.

Do you seriously believe that torpedo shooting with AGS is possible with only 3-4 cables?

explodes under the keel where magnetic and ship's electromagnetic field the most powerful

In a conducting medium, an electromagnetic field does not exist, or rather, it can only be recorded at a distance of the order of the wavelength.
The topic is interesting. The presentation is chaotic. Article minus.

[Brylevsky]

Four electromagnetic coils of a non-contact fuse are wound on the torpedo’s hull (usually in its rear part), which generate an electric field. While the torpedo moves in a homogeneous medium, the electric field of the coils is not disturbed. When passing near a large mass of metal, a uniform e / m field of the coils is distorted. The electrical circuit of a proximity fuse perceives this as a command to detonate. Of course, the author is not always accurate in his judgments. But he is excusable, because he is not a sailor. But, you must admit that being an expert in something, and being able to write excitingly about it, these are completely different things. For example, I am a specialist in mine-torpedo armament, but this does not mean that I will be able to tell excitingly his device (not secret) and application schemes (not secret). Drive writers from the site - there will be no one to write articles ...

[Aviator_]

The torpedo coils create their own magnetic field, to the distortion of which the ship’s hull reacts to the fuse. A uniform electric field drives the current through the winding, there is nothing to distort. This is a significant refinement of the first magnetic fuses, which reacted to the distortion of the Earth's magnetic field near the target’s body.

[vladcub]

It is clear that the matter is dark. It is profitable for South Koreans to put the northerners as extreme as possible.
Personally, to me, the version of "you did not recognize your own" seems plausible, but I do not deny the mine version either

[petrol cutter]

"There are many gaps and missing details in this story. And I can express confidence that we will know exactly about this only in decades, when the archives become available and some meticulous historian gets to them."
Oh well. In any actually marine history .... Millions of gaps. From the fact that things are at sea, it’s not on land ...
There's a completely different calico.

[Sasha_rulevoy]

Torpedo Mark 48

The warhead of the US Navy's MK-48 torpedo contains explosive power equivalent to approximately 1200 pounds of TNT.

And 136 kg is determined, four times less.

[wehr]

It’s generally a mystery what it was. An explosion is less powerful than a torpedo, but more powerful (almost double) than a deep bomb (190 pounds or 86 kg of TNT).

[CTABEP]

In the torpedo Mark48 under 300 kilos of explosives, in the fuel cell - over half a ton (540 kg). That is, almost four times more than the results of the examination were blown up. The US does not carry other torpedoes with itself. So the point here is clearly not a torpedo attack from the submarine.

[A.TOR]

I do not see tragedies in the death of sailors

Everything you need to know about the author

[wehr]

Well, I'm a militarist. Everyone knows who reads me.
He entered the Navy, went on a ship - be ready. It is your duty, your oath. Not ready - stay on the shore.

[A.TOR]

You do not understand a little, dear.
If you look at the unloved Wikipedia, you can read that: Militarism (fr. Militarisme, from lat. Militaris - military) is a state ideology, politics and mass psychology, with the goal of self-building up the military power of the state and war of conquest as the main instrument of foreign policy.
Of course, you can and have the right to consider as you want, to see life in that color ...
The "problem" is that the dead seafarers, generally speaking, were seafarers from one of the few developed countries that continues to maintain relations with Russia in many areas, which have closed in other countries.
In general, among normal people by most generally accepted parameters, the death of someone is not an enemy !! - considered if not a tragedy, but a disaster.
However, you are a "militarist" ...

[wehr]

Good definition. Only I would correct it like this: "state ideology, politics and mass psychosisaiming at a self-valuable military build-up of the state and wars of conquest ... "

[A.TOR]

yes ... my congratulations

[Kostadinov]

The memorial in which the Cheonan was installed after the ascent turned out to be, in fact, a memorial in honor of the North Korean submariners, where excursions were taken at the state expense, they told and showed how the North Korean fleet was beaten as they wanted.

The author worries too deeply about the defeat of the South Koreans and seeks to somehow prove that this is impossible, attributing the sinking of Chonan to the "friendly fire" of an American submarine.
1. The presence of an American nuclear submarine in this area of ​​the Yellow Sea (depth 40-50 meters) and 15 kilometers from the coast of the DPRK is excluded.
2. The charge of American torpedoes is several times more powerful than 136 kg.
3. The last thing that the Yankees and their native Korean hivi can recognize is that they suffered losses from enemy fire. Friendships by mistake are always much better for them.
4. The area is ideal for a small submarine (100-300 tons) and the largest fleet of such boats in the world near the DPRK.
5. The distance of 600-800 meters for hitting a North Korean torpedo is unserious. In 1945, Marinesco fell into two kilometers of two common, upright Soviet torpedoes in Stoiben, and 2 years later, it is necessary to get closer to 75 meters?
6. The fact that they did not find a real torpedo is not proof that she beat an American and there an American boat was hit.
7. Back in World War II, German acoustic torpedoes made a maneuver in front of the target to hit the middle of the ship. In addition, where is the information that the North Korean torpedo is similar to the German 70 years ago and which torpedoes the North Korean submarines use. Do I need to be reminded that the DPRK several years ago offered an air-independent engine for a boat in Taiwan.
8. Since the site of the death of Chonan, just 15 km from the coast of the DPRK, it is quite possible that a North Korean boat or boat fired mines or a torpedo shot directly from the coast.
9. If Jongan died on his own mines or from an accident, then this is the victory of the DPRK fleet.

[Kostadinov]

Correction of a noticed error:
1. In 2010, "only" 65 years passed after the sinking of Steuben in 1945. Then 2 of 2 (100%) torpedoes from the S-13 stern apparatus hit 12 cables.
2. According to the South Koreans, a small submarine hit Chonan with one torpedo from a distance of 3 kilometers. Before this, she took up a position using only the sea current and a "quiet" move.
3. The northerners correctly denied their participation in order to avoid disclosing the tactical details of their boats and torpedoes. With the kids, they learned that the southerners did not find a real torpedo.

[Dmitry Vladimirovich]

The American boat also did not recognize the allied corvettes and, having come under fire, considered them hostile ships, responding to the shelling by a torpedo. Shot and hit.

To do this, the acoustic noise database should be inaccessible or the sonar will not work. And that would be the reason for the cancellation of the teachings.

At the same time, the area of ​​constant patrol of the UK corvettes.

Why these conspiracy theories, except that the author does not have any new information ...