Origins Korea has a long
history of naval activity. In the late 4th century during the
Three Kingdoms period,
Goguryeo defeated
Baekje, fielding amphibious forces of 40,000 men in the process. In 732, the
Balhae navy "attacked the
Shandong peninsula and destroyed the biggest seaport of the
Tang Empire in the east –
Dengzhou." In the 9th century, Commissioner
Chang Pogo of
Unified Silla established a maritime base called
Cheonghaejin on an island to foster trading with
China and
Japan, and to eradicate pirates. In 1380, naval forces of the
Goryeo dynasty defeated 500 invading Japanese pirate vessels by deploying shipboard guns, devised by
Ch'oe Mu-sŏn. This is reportedly the first use of shipboard guns in
naval history. In 1389 and 1419, Korean naval forces invaded
Tsushima Island to suppress Japanese piracy. In the early years of the
Joseon dynasty, the naval force reached its peak of 50,000 personnel, in order to combat the ongoing piracy issue. During the
Japanese invasions of Korea (the Imjin War) in the 16th century, the
Korean naval force commanded by Admiral
Yi Sun-sin, who later became the head of the navy, cut off the invaders' naval lifeline and defeated the Japanese fleet, reversing the war in favor of Joseon. Admiral Yi is also credited with the creation of the
Turtle Ship. By the end of the 19th century, the Joseon navy had no significant naval force other than coastal defense fortresses. In 1893, the Joseon court requested the
British Consul-General to dispatch a naval officer for organizing a naval school in an attempt to modernize the navy. In September 1893, the navy school was established in
Ganghwa Island.
Lieutenant William H. Callwell, a retired British naval officer, and John W. Curtis, a gunnery instructor, served as instructors for 160 cadets and sailor recruits. However, the
Royal Naval Academy was closed in November 1894, and the Joseon navy was brought to an end in 1895 due to the
First Sino-Japanese War and the
Gabo Reform. In 1903, the government of the
Korean Empire purchased its first modern naval ship,
KIS Yangmu. Korean naval tradition was disrupted after Korea was annexed by the
Empire of Japan in 1910. During
the Japanese occupation of Korea, the
Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) built a considerable naval base –
Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea (at present-day
Jinhae).
Founding years and Korean War The Republic of Korea Navy was established as the Marine Defense Group on November 11, 1945. After Korea was liberated from the Empire of Japan on August 15, 1945,
Sohn Won-yil, a former merchant mariner and son of the
Methodist minister and independence activist Sohn Jung-do, organized the Marine Defense Group in
Seoul. The Group formed the Korean Coast Guard and Coast Guard Academy at Jinhae, and the Korean Coast Guard acquired 36 patrol boats (mainly ex-
IJN and
USN minecraft) through the
United States Army Military Government in Korea. After the
South Korean government was established on August 15, 1948, the Korean Coast Guard became the Republic of Korea Navy, and Sohn was appointed as the first
Chief of Naval Operations of the ROK Navy. On April 15, 1949, the
Republic of Korea Marine Corps (ROKMC) was founded at Jinhae. In October 1949, the ROK Navy purchased a 600-ton submarine chaser, the former with funds raised among its personnel. She was renamed
ROKS Baekdusan (PC 701) after
Paektu Mountain, and became "the first significant
warship of the newly independent nation". The
Korean War started with the
North Korean army's surprise attack on Sunday, June 25, 1950. The ROK Navy confronted threats from the
North Korean navy: "Perhaps the most aggressive and effective, if smallest, member of the South Korean armed services during the first year of the Korean War was the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). At the outset of the conflict, the 6,956-man ROKN, with [33] naval vessels of various types, was outnumbered by the 13,700 men and 110 naval vessels of the North Korean navy." With its
UN allies, dominated by U.S. forces, the ROK Navy was able to gain control in the seas surrounding the country, as a task group of the UN Blockading and Escort Force (Task Force 95). On July 27, 1953, the three-year-long war was brought to an end when an armistice agreement was signed. During the war,
Australia,
Canada,
Colombia,
Philippines,
France, the
Netherlands,
New Zealand,
Thailand, the
United Kingdom, and the
United States contributed naval vessels as UN allies;
Denmark sent the hospital ship
Jutlandia. During the Korean War, the ROK Navy acquired 28 ex-USN ships including five
Tacoma-class frigates. In September 1953, the ROK Navy established the Republic of Korea Fleet, which was responsible for the operation and training of the ships.
Building up the fleet , in S. Vietnam, . After the Korean War, the ROK Navy built up its surface fleet with
World War II-era warships loaned from the
U.S. Navy. From 1955 to 1960, the ROK Navy acquired 42 ex-USN warships including two
Cannon-class destroyer escorts. In May 1963, the ROK Navy acquired its first
destroyer,
ROKS Chungmu (DD 91), a . Starting from 1972, nine former USN and s were transferred and added to the ROK Fleet inventory. During the
Vietnam War, the ROK Navy dispatched the Naval Transport Group ("Seagull"), and the
Republic of Korea Marine Corps sent the
2nd Marine Brigade ("Blue Dragon") to
South Vietnam. In April 1975, just before the
Fall of Saigon, two ROKN
LSTs evacuated about 1,300 South Vietnamese and South Koreans from South Vietnam to South Korea. On July 30, 1960, ROKS
Gangwon (DE 72), formerly , sank the North Korean navy patrol craft
PBS 371 off the coast of
Geojin. On January 19, 1967,
ROKS Dangpo (PCE 56), the former USS
Marfa, was sunk by North Korean
coastal artillery north of the demarcation line off the east coast of Korea. In June 1970, a Navy broadcast vessel (
I 2) was captured and abducted by North Korean patrol craft in the vicinity of
Yeonpyeong Islands in the West Sea (
Yellow Sea). On February 22, 1974, a Navy harbor
tug (
YTL 30) capsized off
Tongyeong, resulting in death of 153 Navy,
Coast Guard recruits and 6 sailors.
Indigenous warship building (FF 956), one of the Navy's first locally built
Ulsan-class frigates In the 1970s, through the
Park Chung Hee Administration's "
Yulgok Operation", a secret effort to strengthen domestic arms production, the ROK Navy began to establish a fleet of locally built warships. The Navy acquired shipbuilding capabilities by planning and building high-speed patrol craft such as
Baekgu class and
Chamsuri class in the 1970s – in November 1972, the ROK Navy launched its first domestically built fast patrol craft to intercept North Korean spy boats. The lead ship (FF 951) of the 2,000-ton
Ulsan-class frigates was launched in 1980. The lead ship (PCC 751) of the 1,000-ton
Donghae-class corvettes and the lead ship (PCC 756) of the updated
Pohang-class corvettes were launched in 1982 and 1984 respectively. With local shipbuilders, the ROK Navy continued to carry out other shipbuilding programs for such as the
Dolgorae-class midget submarine,
Kojunbong-class tank landing ship, mine warfare ship (
Wonsan-class minelayer,
Kanggyung-class
minesweeper),
Cheonji-class logistics support ship, and
Cheonghaejin-class submarine rescue ship in the 1980s and 1990s. In November 1987, the Headquarters Republic of Korea Marine Corps was re-established; it was disbanded in October 1973 due to budget constraint. In June 1993, the ROK Navy Headquarters was relocated from
Seoul to the Gyeryongdae complex, the tri-service headquarters in
Gyeryong.
From a coastal navy to a green-water navy (SS 068), one of the Navy's first locally built
Chang Bogo-class submarines (DDG 991), in formation Since the 1990s, the ROK Navy has been trying to build an ocean-going fleet to protect its
sea lines of communication. In 1989, the Navy mentioned the "Strategic Task Fleet" (
Jeollyak-gidong-hamdae) in the Joint Strategic Objectives Plan. The ROK Naval forces began to participate in
RIMPAC exercises from 1990. During Admiral An Pyong-tae's tenure as
CNO,
President Kim Young-sam supported the Navy by approving a long-term shipbuilding plan for the ocean-going navy. In 1999, the Navy developed its strategic vision for the 2020s as "Navy Vision 2020" that outlined the Navy's future Task Fleet, which includes
light aircraft carriers and
ballistic missile submarines. At the same time, the ROK Navy steadily upgraded its naval forces: In order to strengthen the
surface combatants, the ROK Navy launched the lead ship (DDH 971) of the
Kwanggaeto the Great-class destroyer in 1996 to replace the former USN destroyers. For building up a
submarine force, the ROK Navy acquired its first submarine (other than midget submarines),
ROKS Chang Bogo (SS 061), from
Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Germany in 1992. In order to replace its antiquated
S-2 Tracker anti-submarine warfare aircraft, the ROK Navy purchased a squadron of
P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, which were delivered starting in 1995. In October 1998, the ROK Navy hosted its first international fleet review in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Republic of Korea and its armed forces off of the coast of Busan and Jinhae. In June 1999, the ROK and DPRK naval forces met in the
First Battle of Yeonpyeong near the
Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the vicinity of
Yeonpyeong Islands. On June 29, 2002, the two navies
engaged again in the same vicinity, resulting in the sinking of ROKS
Chamsuri 357 (PKM 357). In 2002, the lead ship
(DDH 975) of the 4,800-ton
Chungmugong Yi Sunshin-class destroyers was launched. In 2005, an 18,800-ton
amphibious transport dock,
ROKS Dokdo (LPH 6111) was launched. In 2006, the ROK Navy launched the lead ship (SS 072), which was named after the first Chief of Naval Operations, of the 1,800-ton
Sohn Wonyil-class submarine equipped with an
Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) system. In May 2007, the ROK Navy launched the lead ship (DDG 991) of the 11,000-ton
Sejong the Great-class destroyers, built around the American-made
AEGIS combat system and the
SPY-1D(v) multi-function phased array radar. In December 2008, the ROK Navy commissioned the
fast missile craft ROKS
Yoon Youngha (PKG 711), which was named after the skipper of ROKS
Chamsuri 357. From 2001 to 2003, a naval transport unit called
Haeseong supported
Operation Enduring Freedom and the
Sangnoksu Unit in
East Timor. In 2005, the Navy dispatched transport unit
Jejung to supply aid in
humanitarian response to the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The ROK Navy hosted its second international fleet review off coast of Busan in October 2008 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the South Korean government. On March 26, 2010,
ROKS Cheonan (PCC 772), a
Pohang-class
corvette was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, resulting in the deaths of 46 sailors near
Baengnyeong Island, in the vicinity of the Northern Limit Line.
From green water to blue water in a mock assault. They rescued captured tanker's crew from Somali pirates in 2011. In preparation for an ocean-going navy, the ROK Navy established a task force called Maritime Task Flotilla Seven in February 2010. Since 2009, a
Chungmugong Yi Sunshin-class destroyer from the task force is being deployed as the
Escort Task Group (Cheonghae) in response to
piracy off the coast of
Somalia. On January 21, 2011, naval commandos of the task group carried out an
operation, and succeeded in rescuing the crew of the hijacked
MV Samho Jewelry. As a humanitarian operation, the unit was dispatched to evacuate South Koreans and foreign nationals from war-torn
Libya in 2011 and 2014. The ROK Navy completed a new naval base called
Jeju Civilian-Military Complex Port in February 2016 on the southern coast of
Jeju Island to protect the
sea lines of communication. In order to support ocean-going operations, the ROK Navy commissioned the 10,000-ton logistics support ship, ROKS
Soyang (AOE 51), and launched the first locally designed 3,000-ton submarine,
Dosan Ahn Changho (SS 083) in September 2018. The ROK Navy continued shipbuilding programs to upgrade its fleet with local shipbuilders. In order to replace the aging
Pohang-class corvettes and
Ulsan-class frigates, and to take over multi-role operations such as coast patrol and anti-submarine warfare, the ROK Navy commissioned six 2,300-ton
Incheon-class frigates between 2013 and 2016, and the lead ship (FFG 818) of the 2,800-ton
Daegu-class frigates in March 2018. Two ex-USN
Edenton-class
salvage and rescue ships were replaced with two locally built 3,500-ton
Tongyeong-class ships between 2014 and 2016. The Navy commissioned a 3,000-ton
minelayer, ROKS
Nampo (MLS 570), in June 2017. The lead ship of the
PKX-B fast rocket craft, ROKS
Chamsuri 211 (PKMR 211), was commissioned in November 2017 to relieve the aging fleet of
Chamsuri-class patrol craft. The ROK Navy commissioned four 4,500-ton
Cheonwangbong-class dock landing ships between 2014 and 2018. In May 2018, the Navy launched the
Marado (LPH 6112), which was the second ship of the
Dokdo-class amphibious transport dock. In June 2018, the Navy launched a 4,500-ton training ship, the
Hansando (ATH 81), which was also designed as a casualty receiving and treatment ship (CRTS). In October 2018, the Navy hosted its third international fleet review off coast of
Jeju Island. In 2019, the Navy updated its strategic vision for the 100th anniversary of the ROK Navy as "Navy Vision 2045". As part of the vision, Admiral Sim Seung-seob, the Chief of Naval Operations proposed to build an
ICT-based, system-driven "Smart Navy".
Aircraft carrier ambitions Since the 1990s, the ROK Navy has been planning to acquire an aircraft carrier force as part of its commitment to become a blue-water navy. The symbol of the ROK Navy that was introduced in 2000 depicts the Navy's aircraft carrier ambitions. In 2005 and 2018 the ROK Navy launched two 18,800-ton
Dokdo-class amphibious ships (LPH), equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for operating helicopters. In August 2020, the
Ministry of National Defense formally announced its intent to begin construction of a 30,000-ton light aircraft carrier. It is expected to purchase
F-35B aircraft from the United States for the carrier. It was authorized as the
CVX program in February 2021. ==Organization==