How Can We Help?
You are here:
< Back

The Cheon Wang Bong-class tank landing ship (Korean천왕봉급 전차상륙함; Hanja天王峰級戰車上陸艦) is an amphibious landing ship class of the Republic of Korea Navy.

Development

ROKS No Jeok Bong in Langkawi 2023

In the late 1980s the Republic of Korea Navy decided to gradually replace its aging fleet of World War II-era LST-542-class tank landing ships (renamed Un Bong-class LST) purchased from the US Navy in 1958. A three phase plan was laid out to develop new landing ships to meet the demands of modern amphibious and transport operations.

The first phase was designated as the LST-I project, and development and design started in 1987 by Korea Tacoma, currently Hanjin Heavy Industries. After 4 years of development, the lead ship Go Jun Bong (LST-681) was launched in 1991. Three more ships followed and all four ships were commissioned by 1998.

The second phase, or LST-II, was originally planned to import four Newport-class tank landing ships, but after being postponed due to budget issues, it was changed in favor for domestic built 4500-ton LPDs to be commissioned by 2013-2016.[3] After the construction of the first vessel, a follow-on contract for four additional vessels were awarded to Hyundai Heavy Industries in December 2013.[4]

Ships in the class

Name Pennant number Builder Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Status
ROKS Cheon Wang Bong LST-686 Hanjin Heavy Industries 11 September 2013 1 December 2014 Active
ROKS Cheon Ja Bong LST-687 Hyundai Heavy Industries 15 December 2015 1 August 2017 Active
ROKS Il Chul Bong LST-688 Hyundai Heavy Industries 25 October 2016 2 April 2018 Active
ROKS No Jeok Bong LST-689 Hyundai Heavy Industries 2 November 2017 21 November 2018 Active

References

External links

Categories
Table of Contents