GWANGGAETO THE GREAT CLASS DESTROYER

''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class destroyer
''Gwanggaeto the Great'' ( ★ Hull No.971) destroyer
General Characteristics
Displacement:	3,885-3,900 tons full load
Length:	135.5 m (444 ft)
Beam:	14.2 m (46.5 ft)
Draft:	4.2 m (14 ft)
Propulsion:	2 General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines and 2 Sangyong 20V 956 TB 82 diesel engines; two shafts
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h)
Range:	4,500 nautical miles at 18 knots
Crew Complement:	286
Armament:	1 x OTO Melara 127 mm(5 inch)/54 gun, 2 x Signaal 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS, 2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters, 1 x Mk.48 mod2 VLS with 16 RIM-7P Sea Sparrow missiles, 2 x triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk46 torpedoes).
Aircraft:	2 x Super Lynx helicopters.
Radars:	AN/SPS-49(V) 2D air search radar, Signaal MW 08 surface search radar, Daewoo SPS-95k navigation radar, 2 x Signaal STIR 180 Fire control radars.
Sonars:	ATLAS DSQS-21BZ Hull mounted Sonar
EW:	SLQ-25 Nixie towed torpedo decoy, ARGOSystems AR 700 and APECS 2 ECM, 4 x CSEE DAGAIE MK.2 Chaff Launchers

The '''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class' destroyers (Hangul 광개토대왕급 구축함), often called 'KDX-I class', are destroyers operated by the Republic of Korea Navy. It was the first phase of ROKN's KDX program, in moving the ROK Navy from a coastal defence force to a blue-water navy.

Contents

Weapon Systems

Construction

Ships in the class

External links

Weapon Systems

It is armed with an OTO 127 mm/54 caliber gun, two 30 mm Goalkeepers, 16 MK 48 Mod 2 Raytheon RIM-7P Sea Sparrow SAM missiles, RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile and two torpedo mounts in a triple tube configuration. Its vertical launch system can hold up to 16 missiles.

Construction

All ''Gwanggaeto the Great'' class destroyers were built by the Daewoo Heavy Industries Co., Inc. at Geoje, South Korea. In 1989, Daewoo Heavy Industries began working on the 4,000-ton destroyer which is now secondary destroyer of the Korean navy, and the achievement was made through DSME's 100% design engineering for the first time in Korea.

Ships in the class

Hull No.	Name	Launched	Commissioned
DDH-971	Gwanggaeto the Great	28 October 1996	July 1998
DDH-972	Eulji Mundeok	16 October 1997	September 1999
DDH-973	Yang Manchun	30 September 1998	July 2000

External links

★ ROKN Navy website on KDX-I

★ Globalsecurity on KDX-I

★ Powercorea on KDX-I