South Korean ship fires on a ship

[Raptor1]

Ah, should've figured the North Korean government is capable of something so unnessecarily idiotic...

[Oberon]

"Don't be so sirry!"

[Castout]

Another picture of the ship, Cheonan




Ship hull is broken/split into two. The stern was the first to be gone beneath the waves.

If it was a mine what's the possibility of it striking the ship's stern?!

I would rule out an accident. It was either a conventional sea mine, a torpedo mine or a torpedo attack.
Somebody is playing a dangerous game . . .
I didn't imply it was definitely North Korea's doing though . . .but we can't help to think it's probably one of the prime suspects.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

I wonder if it could have been a mine? But, you are right SW, good thing this hasn't escalated.

Then again there could be a DPRK sub on the bottom right now, or it could be reloading and waiting for another shot...

Originally Posted by Castout

Another picture of the ship, Cheonan




Ship hull is broken/split into two. The stern was the first to be gone beneath the waves.

If it was a mine what's the possibility of it striking the ship's stern?!

I would rule out an accident. It was either a conventional sea mine, a torpedo mine or a torpedo attack.
Somebody is playing a dangerous game . . .
I didn't imply it was definitely North Korea's doing though . . .but we can't help to think it's probably one of the prime suspects.

It could hit the stern if it was an acoustic mine set off my the prop noise like the Russian UDM or PRC Mao-4 that the DPRK does have.

Or it could have snagged the mooring line dangling from a mine that got cut loose from its anchor. Line rapped around the screw and draged it right in to her stern.

Although this ROK FFL does have an aft 76mm it a round cooked off in that it could have wrecked the stern and sank her.

EDIT 'nother possablity the North does have some EM-52 rocket mines, they are acoustic triggered and very devistating...

[Jimbuna]

Oh wait...I can see an image appearing

[Happy Times]

The survivors have told the explosion was external and lifted the ship up and broke it in two.
Narrows down the options.
No one wants to but taking down NK would be the right thing to do, it could take 20 years to wait for its internal collapse.

[Castout]

Warships just don't go exploding in half by accident.

Kursk was on a torpedo firing drill....but this Korean warship was not doing any dangerous or risky drill . . .

what if it was a US ship that exploded?

I wonder what the reaction might be?

--self censored line deleted--

I didn't imply it was definitely North Korea but it seemed like a torpedo attack and that paints a very suspicious light on North Korea. Could it be that a third party wish to paint a bad picture on North Korea? The answer to that would lead to subsequent conclusion.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Happy Times

No one wants to but taking down NK would be the right thing to do, it could take 20 years to wait for its internal collapse.

Judging from the german, very mixed experiences, I wonder if South Korea is any better suited to deal with the economic and financial consequences of a reunification. South Koreans will be surprised at what it means to clean up the mess a failed state has left behind after half a century. Germany for sure has totally, fundamentally, absolutely underestimated the costs. Back then they made promises about blossoming landscapes within just a handful of years. Today we know that East germany for the most is the fastest failiung area in all Europe, and in growing rural areas but also minor and medium sized cities gets abandoned by young population.

[diver]

Originally Posted by Happy Times

No one wants to but taking down NK would be the right thing to do, it could take 20 years to wait for its internal collapse.

20 years of peace is better than 20 days of the kind of war you propose.

It is easy to say from the relative safety of a computer desk in Finland that we should act now to fix the NK problem. But believe me there are plenty of people in the world (and on this forum) that do not want to go rattling any sabres until we know for certain what happened.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Oh wait...I can see an image appearing

Personally deleted by me

reason: might be felt insensitive to the sailors who fell victim in the incident.

[CaptainHaplo]

Could have been a magnetic mine, a moored mine that broke a cable - coulda been an accident (the Korean newspaper had a snippet about improper stowage of DC's claimed by previous sailors), coulda been any number of things.