Guerra Mondiale incoming ?

[Gil-galad, Re degli Elfi]

Mentre ci sono ancora speranze (IMHO piuttosto vane) di ritrovare qualcuno vivo, si accenna sempre più spesso all'ipotesi della mina.

Sunken section of South Korean naval vessel found


The South Korean military says it has located the stern of its warship that sank in mysterious circumstances on Friday following an explosion.
The authorities are hoping that some of the 46 crew members still missing may be alive but trapped in underwater air pockets in the wreckage.
Military diving teams were due to begin a search for survivors.
The vessel sank close to the sea border with North Korea; the South says it is open-minded on the cause of the blast.
The South's defence minister said it could have been caused by a drifting mine.
Rescue officials said at the weekend that the explosion had broken the ship into two parts. Fifty-eight crewmen were saved soon after the ship went down.
Rescue race
Navy divers have been hampered by strong currents and murky waters, but have now located the stern on the sea bed.
It is the part of ship that contains the sleeping compartments and so is thought to be the most likely location in which survivors might be found.

"Divers confirmed the location of the rear part and installed a buoy there," said Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Ki-shik.
He told a news conference underwater cameras would be sent down to search for possible trapped survivors.
But it is now a race against time, our Seoul correspondent John Sudworth says.
If any of the 46 missing crew members are still alive, calculations suggest that any oxygen in the trapped air will soon run out.
Yonhap news agency quoted officials as saying that parts of the ship were able to shut out water for a maximum of 69 hours.
President Lee Myung-bak urged rescuers not to give up hope of finding survivors and to investigate all possible causes of the sinking.
"Look into the causes of the incident thoroughly and leave no single piece of doubt behind," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
Yonhap said 24 military vessels, with air support, were involved with the search. A US rescue vessel Salvo, with more than a dozen divers on board, has also joined the operation.
Mine theory
The 1,200-tonne Cheonan naval patrol vessel sank near the disputed maritime border with North Korea - the Northern Limit Line - but military officials say there is no indication the North was involved.
South Korea recognises the line, drawn unilaterally by the US-led United Nations Command to demarcate the sea border at the end of the Korean War.
But it has never been accepted by North Korea, and the area has been the scene of deadly clashes between the navies of the two Koreas in the past.
Our correspondent says that no unusual military movements were detected on Friday night, however, leading to speculation that the sinking was due to some kind of accident.
South Korea Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young said the explosion could have been caused by an old North Korean wartime sea mine which drifted into southern waters.
"Though many mines were removed, it must have been impossible to retrieve them all," AFP quoted him as saying.

[Zio S@m]

una mina che esplode a poppa? di solito saltano a mezza nave dove il campo magnetico e' piu forte se non vado errato.
Io sarei piu' per un siluro volutamente lanciato per colpire le eliche della nave danneggiarla ma non affondarla:in questo modo i nord coreani avrebbero avuto un pattugliatore antisom in meno da tenere a sotto controllo e compiere le loro missioni di spionaggio sarebbe stato piu' agevole...evidentemente qualcosa e' andato storto e la nave si e' inabissata.
Ma da quel che ho sentito mi sembra che giaccia su un fondale poco profondo(20m circa) e quindi le operazioni di recupero non dovrebbero essere cosi' complicate

[Gil-galad, Re degli Elfi]

Credo che l'ipotesi fosse che si trattasse di una vecchia mina a contatto del nord staccatasi dagli ormeggi. Adesso però sta riprendendo piede l'ipotesi del siluro.

da bbc news

South Korea's defence minister has renewed speculation a torpedo could have caused the blast that sank a warship off its coast last week.
Kim Tae-young said it was a "likely possibility" the Cheonan had been hit by such a missile, but that all possibilities needed to be considered.
Mr Kim did not say who would have fired a torpedo or under what circumstances it could have happened.

[...]
Mr Kim had previously said a sea mine could have caused the blast, which tore the 1,200-tonne corvette in half near Baengnyeong Island, close to the maritime border with North Korea.
But on Friday, he told parliament a torpedo was "a more realistic cause than a mine".
Mr Kim said sailors who had escaped the ship had not reported detecting any incoming missiles before the blast, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Earlier in the week, South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak said there had to be "no suspicion or negligence" in the investigation.

Riguardo al recupero, non è proprio facilissimo, anche perché negli ultimi giorni c'è stato un freddo fuori stagione associato a mare grosso. Da Cnn.com (le sottolineature sono mie).

[...] Thirteen South Korean ships and two U.S. ships are on the scene, with 207 Korean divers and 15 American divers aboard. Diving operations were halted for a second day Thursday due to rough weather conditions.
Navy Chief Master Sergeant Han Joo-ho, 53, died after diving on the wreck Tuesday. Officials including Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Kim Sung-chan visited a memorial altar set up at a naval hospital in his memory; family members of those missing on the Cheonan also attended. Online, thousands have posted messages of condolence.
His funeral will be held Saturday.
Han, 53, was not ordered to dive on the wreck. "He was a coach at the naval diving school so did not have to be on the diving team," an official at the Defense Ministry told CNN. "He volunteered."
His son, an active-duty army officer, told local reporters that he had asked his father not to take risks diving on the wreck, but his father, "...used to say he wanted to live with honor."
The Cheonan's stern and bow lie over 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) apart on the seabed. The bow is 25 meters (27 yards) under water, while the stern, where the 46 missing crew members are believed to be, is 45 meters (49 yards) under water.
With currents under water exceeding 5 knots (6 miles per hour) and visibility below one meter (one yard), the wreck is extremely dangerous. Han, one of the Korean navy's most experienced divers, fell unconscious after reportedly exceeding recommended times and depths under water. Two other divers were hospitalized the same day. Both have now been released.
It is unclear whether intense public pressure contributed to the divers taking excessive risks.
Family members of the missing have consistently criticized the navy for what they consider an inadequate response to the disaster. The media is rife with speculation over what caused it -- theories range from North Korean suicide boats manned by female commandos to an errant mine -- and has been demanding answers.
A 130-ton patrol boat sunk in the Yellow Sea after a naval firefight in 2002 took three weeks to raise. The Cheonan, 1,200 tons, is considerably larger, and also in two pieces. The defense ministry source said that it may take a month to raise the wreck.

Questa è una mappa della situazione.

[Gil-galad, Re degli Elfi]

Ok, a quanto pare sembra che tutto punti ad una esplosione sottomarina avvenuta vicino, ma non a contatto dello scafo della Cheonan. Quindi è probabile che si sia trattato di una mina ad influenza o di un siluro.

'Bubble jet' effect likely cause of Chon An sinking
A so-called 'bubble jet' effect, rather than a direct hit, is likely to have been responsible for the sinking of South Korean warship Chon An in the Yellow Sea (West Sea) off the coast of North Korea on 26 March. The chairman of the South Korean team investigating, Yoon Duk-yong, said: "The possibility of an underwater non-contact explosion is bigger than that of an underwater contact explosion, considering the shape of the severed surfaces and conditions." "The chances of an internal explosion, fatigue fracture or collision with a reef is zero," added Yoon, raising further the suspicion of North Korean involvement

Fonte: Jane's weekly news

[Gil-galad, Re degli Elfi]

A quanto pare, tutto sembra puntare verso un'esplosione avvenuta nelle vicinanze (ma non a contatto) dello scafo della Cheonan, quindi i maggiori indiziati rimangono un siluro o una mina ad influenza

'Bubble jet' effect likely cause of Chon An sinking
A so-called 'bubble jet' effect, rather than a direct hit, is likely to have been responsible for the sinking of South Korean warship Chon An in the Yellow Sea (West Sea) off the coast of North Korea on 26 March. The chairman of the South Korean team investigating, Yoon Duk-yong, said: "The possibility of an underwater non-contact explosion is bigger than that of an underwater contact explosion, considering the shape of the severed surfaces and conditions." "The chances of an internal explosion, fatigue fracture or collision with a reef is zero," added Yoon, raising further the suspicion of North Korean involvement

Fonte: Jane's defence weekly

[Gil-galad, Re degli Elfi]

Faccio un po' di gravedigging visto che è uscito il rapporto definitivo dell'indagine

Torpedo 'only possible explanation' for Chon An sinking, says report
A torpedo attack led by North Korea is the only possible explanation behind the sinking of the South Korean corvette Chon An , argues the final joint investigation report released by Seoul on 13 September. The 305 page-long report, seen by Jane's , rules out any other possibility - such as a sea mine - to explain the disaster that killed 46 sailors in the Yellow Sea (West Sea) on 26 March

[showa]

E' passato troppo tempo perché il rapporto (sicuramente pieno di menzogne imperialiste) possa suscitare qualche casino.

[Gil-galad, Re degli Elfi]

Nel frattempo nella stessa zona:

South Korea wary of North's intentions ahead of G20 summit
North and South Korea exchanged fire on 29 October and the South Korean Navy fired warning shots at a North Korean fishing boat on 2 November, fuelling fears of a military clash ahead of this month's G20 summit in Seoul. Soldiers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPKR's) Korea People's Army fired three bursts of machine gun fire in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) near Hwacheon, 90 km northeast of Seoul