Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

17th Cheonghae unit departs for the Gulf of Aden … Farewell ceremony for dispatched sailors

The 17th Cheonghae unit started an important mission to support safe navigation for domestic and overseas vessels in waters off Somalia.

The Navy held a farewell ceremony for the 17th Cheonghae unit at Busan operating base on September 29 and encouraged dispatched sailors.

The ceremony, conducted by Vice Admiral Jung Ho-seob, the operations commander, was attended by 1,300 people including major commanders in the Busan and Jinhae area, representatives of the reserves, families of dispatched sailors, etc.

Under the control of Captain Hwang Sun-woo, the commander, the unit consists of a 4,400-ton class destroyer, Daejoyoung Ham, DDH-977 and approximately 300 soldiers including an inspection group composed of UDT/SEAL members, the Air Force operating Lynx and boundary guard group of the Marine Corps.

This is the third time for Daejoyoung Ham following the 2nd and 9th units, and 32 of the sailors are experienced and were active in the Cheonghae and Arc units. They have resolved to share their dispatching experience with other unit members to closely protect Koreans living overseas.

The 17th Cheonghae unit has improved its mission capabilities with customized education that fits the reality at each level since last August, such as naval shipbuilding mastery, familiarity training for vessels navigating the Gulf of Aden, air firing training, etc.

On September 16 in the sea near Geojedo, they conducted the civil-government-military joint pirate counter training with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and Korea ship owners association and strengthened their ability to complete their duties.

They copied a private ship, which has similar internal structure to a Korean merchant ship passing through the waters of Somalia, to serve as the kidnapped merchant ship and proceeded with the training so that they can build teamwork for systematic anti-piracy operations. They will carry out their dispatching missions until next April in the Gulf of Aden after supporting the Korea-Oman 40th anniversary for the establishment of diplomatic relations at the end of October.

The Cheonghae unit, established in March, 2009, has safely escorted 16,000 Korean vessels so far, and rescued and protected 31 vessels from pirates and disasters. Protection of Korean deep-sea fishing vessels that operate in the waters of Seychelles, the Indian Ocean, has been included since the 13th unit. They have been protecting Korean people as well as evacuation operations of nationals abroad.　

By Byeong-No, Yun < trylover@dema.mil.kr >

<Copyright ⓒ The Korea Defense Daily, All rights reserved>