U.S. Official: North Korean Submarine is Missing, Presumed Sunk

[Onkel Neal]

U.S. Official: North Korean Submarine is Missing, Presumed Sunk
http://news.usni.org/2016/03/11/u-s-...-presumed-sunk

A North Korean People’s Navy submarine is missing and presumed sunk, a U.S. official told USNI News on Friday. The unknown class of submarine was operating off the North Korean coast in the last several days when the submarine went missing.

“About week ago it went missing and the speculation is that it sank,” the official told USNI News. “The North Koreans have not made an attempt to indicate there is something wrong or that they require help or some type of assistance.”

The official was reluctant to give specific details on the presumed loss of the boat due to sensitivities on how the military was tracking the vessel.

Oops, was that your sub, Kimmy? How hard would it be to knock out a NK sub operating below PD?

Well, this is where it all began....

[Cybermat47]

Who would have thought that a submarine as new as the Romeo class could sink?

[moose1am]

??? What happened?

[nikimcbee]

Here's my guess.

[nikimcbee]

...Or maybe Un opened the hatch, thinking it was the fridge door?

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

Who would have thought that a submarine as new as the Romeo class could sink?

By today's standards Romeo class submarines are considered obsolete, but they still have some value as training and surveillance vessels. North Korea operates 77 Romeo class submarines. Seven were directly imported from China between 1973 and 1975, and the remainder locally assembled with Chinese supplied parts between 1976 and 1995. One apparently sank in an accident in 1985. Four Chinese imported units are based on the western coast. Type 633: Original Chinese built Romeo, China was to have assembled these Romeos from knock-down kits provided by the Soviet Union, 6 were planned, but only 2 were completed. The construction program came to a complete stop when the USSR stopped delivery of parts following the Sino-Soviet split. Construction of the 3rd unit at Wuhan was stopped, and available parts were diverted to complete the first pair, but many parts had to be developed indigenously. The primary improvement of Type 633 over the original Soviet boats is the use of domestic Chinese batteries, which had slightly superior performance to that of the original Soviet batteries.

[Mr Quatro]

Darpa knows, but she won't tell: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-te...-actuv-launch/

[Oberon]

Obviously someone knocked on the hatch...

(FYI, I believe the class of sub hasn't been announced by the USN, since they don't particularly want to give away how they know, so it could well be one of the KPNs many midget subs).

[Jimbuna]

With any luck the little fat bugga will have been on board at the time (like in the picture in the first post).

A little payback for Cheonan.