70% of North Korea’s Submarines have Left their Bases, Can’t be Located

originally posted by: NoCorruptionAllowed
What would really be funny is if all 70 of his subs have catastrophic failures and wind up as scrap on the bottom of the ocean. The US military has technology that can track those subs. Probably won't hear about it though,..

not so funny for the crews!! :/

a reply to: NeoSpace

It's not about what we can or can't do to N. Korea. It's about what China would permit us to do to them. China holds their leash or at least it used to. If people say we hold Israel's leash, then N. Korea is similar for China.

Do you really think we could retaliate without having to worry about how China would choose to perceive such a move?

a reply to: Reverbs

The exact numbers aren't clear, but types are fairly certain.

Or winters coming and he needs heating oil to keep warm. That sounds more reasonable to me . Give him 2 weeks and he'll pull back for some oil!!

originally posted by: ketsuko

Do you really think we could retaliate without having to worry about how China would choose to perceive such a move?

The relationship between China and NK is being greatly exhaggerated. NK has been "convenient" for China for decades, but their relationship is not even convenient any more.

A good example of this happened just yesterday, with China releasing a statement that all parties should remain calm and not do anything to escallate the problem, with NK quickly releasing a counter statement saying they have "been calm for too long" and that they should basically keep their opinions to themselves.

In addition to that, China was having talks with SK and the US about how to deal with NK when it finally implodes (something many view as inevitable when the people become more aware of the outside world) and how to help the people while preventing a mass exodus into China.

On top of that, China is currently sending massive amounts of military hardware to their own border with NK.

People seem to have a very simplistic notion of US/China relations. It's not a negative as people seem to want to imagine. They are competitors in some ways, but allies in others. When it comes to a rogue state threatening the entire region with Nuclear war, China and the US are most certainly allies!

Maybe he's gonna shoot EMP-nuclear missiles from the subs at the US, then after all electronics are taken out (also the defense missile systems), long range nukes? Not sure if this would be possible or they even have this tech though.

Not that I believe this will really happen but why escalate things? I mean is it really necessary for big military exercises.

For me it looks like N-Korea has nothing too loose, even when they would dead themselves, just the victory over the US, would make up for that big time.

a reply to: Pluginn

Except none of the subs involved could carry them or get in range of the US. The Romeo is the only one that could reach the US and it can't carry missiles.

a reply to: Zaphod58

most of their subs are the small 15-19 man crew ones with 2 tubes that are mainly designed to put special forces teams ashore in Sth Korea - one ran aground and was captured a few years ago.

The Romeo's are old and possibly being replaced by a new indigenous build.

a reply to: Rocker2013

It would greatly depend on how out of control Lil' Kim actually is.

If he truly has gone rogue, then it might be China's interests to let us deal with him, but if he's still on their leash, then there's no way we touch him without inviting some serious repercussions.

a reply to: Zaphod58

What about the Golf II class submarine's?

Also lets assume N-Korea is closely working together with Iran, exchanging tech or even hardware or even planning an attack on the same time .. Does Iran got good enough subs? Again I really don't think it's a real possibility but lets assume there is a way.

By 1990, all Golf-class submarines were decommissioned. Ten of them were allegedly sold to North Korea in 1993. And now it appears that North Korean engineers have been busy learning Soviet technology for the last 20 years and have got the sub seaworthy again.

An unidentified submarine was spotted by a US intelligence satellite. The vessel is moored at North Korea’s Sinpo South Shipyard.

“The new submarine is 67 meters long with a beam of 6.6 meters, and has a dive displacement in the 3,000-tonne range,” Yonhap’s source in Seoul said.

“According to the analysis of satellite imagery revealed by 38 North (US-based monitoring entity), a ground test facility for the SLBM (Submarine launched ballistics missile) launch has been up and running at the Sinpo shipyard,” another source said.

However outdated these subs might appear today, their three ballistic missiles could hit targets at a range of up to 1,500 kilometers, albeit with low accuracy. Some versions of the ballistic missiles used on them could be launched from underwater. By purchasing old Soviet subs, Pyongyang must have saved years of research in submarine missile launch technology.

a reply to: Pluginn

exactly.

a reply to: Pluginn


Old, noisy, sold for scrap - NK may have gotten some of them working again - probably by cannibalizing others....but their use is almost certainly limited to extracting whatever (obsolete) technology they have rather than actually launching missiles - presumably the best they have was photographed with Kim in the conning tower...and the rust was obvious!!

Maybe they have some missiles they can launch - but the 1500km range means south korea is a more likely target than the US, and SK knows that already, so they aren't really adding anything to the mix.

ETA: Article on the single unknown sub recently seen - appears to have provision for 1 or 2 SLABM's, but may be either strictly experimental or a potential replacement for Romeo's in a more aggressive anti-ship capacity.

It is very small so if deployed with SLBM's mostly likely will have a role vs Sth Korea due limited submarine range & station holding capability, plus probable relatively short range of KN-11 missile - which is still being developed.

originally posted by: Reverbs

originally posted by: tempestking
70% of nk subs so dose that mean one sub as gone ......

I don't get all the jokes.

Yous guys are listening to too much propaganda.. I think they have something like 75 submarines.

I'm sure you must know that if they really decided to they would destroy the north of south korea in a day.

It's not hard to make a quiet sub. It's hard to make Giant quiet subs with nuclear reactors on them.

Second page before practicality prevails. Thank you. Am I mistaken in that, they have one of the largest standing armies in the world, Nuke knowledge and a plethora of subs. Yeah....can't drop an anchor.

Laugh it up.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

They say 4th largest Army?

But the numbers of infantry, dwarf the US Army.

If they have the ammo, which I think they do for about a year or so.

Nuke knowledge?

They may have 10 nukes by now.

They sell missile technology.. Most notably to Iran.

a reply to: Aloysius the Gaul

Which is what I've been saying since joining the thread.

a reply to: Pluginn

That's not a Golf in the shipyard, it's a new class based on several subs, including the Golf. . None of the Golf class have been seen in service. The Golf is almost 100 meters long, the Sinpo is less than 70.

In a couple of days we will be hearing about how a few of these derelict vessels have sunk in the waters surrounding south Korea, and probably even a couple will have some sort of catastrophic failure and the crews will need to be rescued. Maybe even some top level defections.

a reply to: Reverbs

How can that possibly be a Golf? The Golf was over 98 meters long and 3,000 tons. That sub is 67 meters and in the 1500 ton area. There hasn't been a single confirmed sighting of a Golf in North Korean service.

I would be more worried about the Russian subs that are parked in the gulf of Mexico..

Not NK...

PLEASE do not even attempt to try and tell me they are not there either...

a reply to: Zaphod58

So they got it wrong in this link?:
freebeacon.com...
&
defencetalk.net...

Ten of them were allegedly sold to North Korea in 1993. And now it appears that North Korean engineers have been busy learning Soviet technology for the last 20 years and have got the sub seaworthy again.