Newest North Korean Warship Falls off Dry Dock ... whoops!!!

[Melensdad]

Premier, little dictator, 'rocketman' Kim Jong Uh, happened to be at the unveiling of the newest North Korean warship when it fell.

You have to bet that some Admiral is now hanging from a mast somewhere.

Kim Jong Un watches as North Korea's newest warship falls off dry dock

In a rare public admission of failure, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the accident involving the 5,000-ton destroyer as a “criminal act.”

www.nbcnews.com

​

​

Kim Jong Un watches as North Korea's newest warship falls off dry dock​

In a rare public admission of failure, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the accident involving the 5,000-ton destroyer as a “criminal act.”​

May 21, 2025, 9:53 PM CDT / Updated May 21, 2025, 11:02 PM CDT​

​

A new North Korean warship was damaged in a “serious accident” during a launch ceremony attended by leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported Thursday in a rare admission of failure by the secretive nuclear-armed state.​

​

The 5,000-ton destroyer slid off a flatcar because of “inexperienced command and operational carelessness in the course of the launch,” according to the Korean Central News Agency, crushing parts of the bottom of the ship.​

​

Lee Sung-joon, spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities had been monitoring the failed launch and that the ship was “lying on its side in the sea.”​

​

South Korea also said Thursday that North Korea had fired multiple unidentified cruise missiles and that U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities were analyzing the details.​

​

The ship accident Wednesday at the northeastern port of Chongjin is a blow to Kim, who has stressed the importance of such destroyers for advancing North Korea’s military capabilities.​

​

Kim described the incident as a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness” that “could not be tolerated,” KCNA said.​

​

He censured the officials involved in the accident, which he said “brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse,” and said the ship should be restored before next month’s plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party.​

​

The North Korean report did not say whether there were any casualties.​

​

​

South Korea’s Lee said the damaged ship was believed to have capabilities similar to those of North Korea’s first destroyer, the Choe Hyon-ho, which was unveiled late last month in what Kim called a “breakthrough” in modernizing his naval forces. North Korean state media reported that Kim had supervised tests of the destroyer’s supersonic and strategic cruise missiles, anti-aircraft missile, automatic guns and electronic jamming guns. . . .​

 

[Melensdad]

Is it possible that North Korea does not have 1) cranes capable of righting the ship? and 2) a proper Dry Dock to repair the ship?

Oh the shame befallen upon the communist nation of North Korea Yet, North Korea said the damage would only take 10 days to repair?

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/22/asia/north-korea-destroyer-accident-intl-hnk-ml

North Korea’s newest warship was severely damaged during a recent launch ceremony, with leader Kim Jong Un, who witnessed the accident, saying it brought shame to the nation’s prestige and vowing to punish those found responsible, state media reported.​

​

In a rare admission of failure, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said a malfunction in the launch mechanism caused the stern of the as-yet unnamed 5,000-ton destroyer to slide prematurely into the water on Wednesday, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway.​

​

Kim called the launch failure “a criminal act” and blamed it on “absolute carelessness” and “irresponsibility” by multiple state institutions - including the Munitions Industry Department, Kim Chaek University of Technology and the central ship design bureau.​

​

Law enforcement have detained three people “for legal investigation” over the incident, including the chief engineer of the shipyard, state media KCNA reported Sunday, citing the group in charge of investigating the botched launch.​

. . . ​

Naval analysts said the damage incurred by a vessel in such a launch malfunction could be “catastrophic.”​

​

​

“If the ship does not move together, the stresses will tear the hull apart,” Sal Mercogliano, a professor at Campbell University in North Carolina and a maritime expert, told CNN.​

​

Naval analyst Carl Schuster in Hawaii, after reviewing the KCNA account, said he thinks the stresses would “warp the hull, induce cracks and (possibly) snap the keel depending on where the greatest stress falls.”​

​

The launch failure marks a setback for what analysts have viewed as North Korea’s most ambitious naval modernization effort in decades.​

​

The ship was to be the second major navy surface vessel revealed in quick succession by North Korea. In April, Kim unveiled the Choe Hyon, the country’s first newly constructed destroyer in decades, and declared his ambition of building more destroyers and various cruisers and frigates.​

. . . ​

Western defense analysts noted that the Choe Hyon marked a departure from the aging Soviet-era vessels that dominated the Korean People’s Navy. While details remain scarce, satellite imagery and footage suggested the Choe Hyon could share design elements with similar Russian navy ships.​

​

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesperson Lee Sung-joon said the vessel damaged on Wednesday was thought to be equipped like the Choe Hyon.​

​

Wednesday’s incident could cast doubt on the country’s ability to scale its navy. Kim said the damage would be addressed not only through technical repairs, but political accountability.​

​

He ordered the destroyer to be restored before the late June plenary session of the ruling Workers’ Party, calling the matter one of national honor.​

​

KCNA reported Friday that the damage to the warship was less than North Korea’s initial estimate. . . STORY CONTINUES AT CNN's LINK ABOVE ^​

 

[waybomb]

The arrests? Dead men walking

 

[tiredretired]

Oh darn.