South Korea will develop an automatic alarm system that can increase the survivability of the crew in emergency situations such as an attack by North Korea, the Navy said Thursday.
The automatic system will tell how to escape a stricken ship and how to close compartment bulkheads to control damages so as to keep the vessel afloat.
According to the Navy's announcement on major projects for this year, the new Korean damage control management system is basically intended to increase the survivability of the ships as well as crew members aboard.
It said the new program is a bid to strengthen the naval forces' war potential as it observes the sixth anniversary of the torpedoing of South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan by a North Korean submarine.
On March 26, 2010, North Korea carried out a torpedo attack on the South Korean ship which sank off the coast of the northwestern island of Baengnyeong, taking with it 46 sailors.
Since then, the South Korean Navy has made changes ranging from updating equipment and constructing ships to setting up drills to effectively counter North Korean provocations.
According to a Navy officer, the software alarm system will automatically notify a ship's crew of all sorts of damage, assist in the prompt evacuation of personnel and facilitate the closure of airtight compartments. It will also close off the engine room, shutdown electrical equipment and ventilation.
The officer said the new system will make it possible for South Korean naval forces to conduct simulation exercises that will be almost equal in level to the U.S. Navy.
Presently, the South Korean Navy is using damage control management system software developed by Britain and Canada.
If the new control system's software is developed, it will increase the survivability of crew members and vessels while significantly strengthening education and training for the naval forces.
Moreover, a new type of hybrid engine, which will be powering future ships like the new class of Batch-II next-generation frigates, will be launched this year.
The engines will greatly reduce a ship's engine noise that can make them harder to detect by North Korean submarines, the officer said. These engines will be used on the 20 new frigates that will be constructed into the 2020s.
The Navy said all ships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons will get a Torpedo Acoustic Counter Measure (TACM) system and decoy systems to lure away underwater threats. It said such equipment will greatly increase the Navy's operations against North Korea's underwater threat.
Pyongyang has an outdated Navy, but it does have a large number of diesel-electric submarines, which are very hard to detect if they are underwater and running on battery power. (Yonhap)