Vietnam Submarine Force Not Only Kilo

10 September 2019

Vietnamese Yugo class mini submarine (photo : People's Army Newspaper)

Referring to the submarine force of Vietnam, many people will usually only think of attack submarine powered by very modern Kilo 636M - diesel engines that the Party and the State have invested heavily to buy from Russia to increase strength, strong fighting for the navy.

However, certainly not many people know that before Kilo 636M, Vietnam had been in submarine equipment. According to SIPRI, in 1997, Vietnam purchased two small YUGO-class submarines from North Korea and assigned them at the Cam Ranh military station.

This is a very rare image of a Vietnamese Yugo submarine purchased from North Korea published by the People's Army Newspaper. These submarines are now thought to be equipped with M96 naval task forces. Yugo specifications are not much, just know that it was made in North Korea probably from the 1980s on the basis of the original design originated from Yugoslavia (old).

20 meters Yugo class submarine (photo : hisuton)

The ship has a displacement of 90 tons when floating, when diving is 110 tons, 20 meters long and 2 meters wide. The ship is equipped with a single-axis diesel engine for a speed of 4 knots/h, floating at 10 knots/h, carrying 4-6 sailors or naval special forces. Weapons are also available but there are only two 533mm pre-loaded torpedoes, not enough space to carry spare ammunition.

In general with such limited features, mini submarines like the Yugo are not suitable for fighting at sea. However, thanks to its small size, Yugo is considered the most suitable for special operations, deep into the enemy base ... that North Korea has successfully demonstrated this mission.

In September 1996, North Korea sent a Sang-O mini-class submarine carrying 26 soldiers secretly breaking into the East Coast of Korea without being detected. Unfortunately, when the submarine was stranded, the ship was soon captured by the South Korean Army, while a group of Korean soldiers tried to invade the DMZ by land but failed, 24 people were killed and 1 arrested and 1 missing.

Cam Ranh submarine naval base (photo : Navy newspaper)

Although the mission of the North Korean task force was not successful, they clearly demonstrated that the mini submarines were very suitable for sabotage, reconnaissance and invasion operations. And the Americans - South Koreans also acknowledge and are always wary of Korean mini submarines.

Of interest, Sang-O is thought to be an improved version of the Yugo submarine provided by North Korea to Vietnam. Sang-O has a displacement of 275 tons when floating, 370 tons for diving, 34 meters long, 9 knots for diving speed, and a range of 2,800 km.

Because of its large size, Sang-O is equipped with more equipment such as passive radar reconnaissance, reconnaissance detection systems and two 533mm torpedoes. At least 40 Sang-Os were built by North Korea for their mysterious combat operations.

(KienThuc)