South Korea’s 4th FFX-II Daegu-class frigate launched

Two Daegu-class frigates, one of which is the Donghae (822). Photo c/o ROKN.

South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has launched the fourth Daegu-class guided-missile frigate for the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN), with the event taking place on 29 April 2020 at HHI’s main naval shipbuilding facility in Ulsan.

The ship, named Donghae (822), is expected to be handed over to the ROKN by late 2021.

Four more ships of the class are expected to be completed, all of which are in different state of construction and planning.

The Daegu-class were developed under the ROKN’s FFX-II program as an improvement from the earlier Incheon-class frigates. HHI and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) share the production of the entire class, with HHI building the third, fourth, seventh and eighth ships, while DSME was assigned to build the first, second, fifth, and sixth ships.

The ships are 122.1 meters long, 14 meters wide, with a standard displacement of 2,800 tons and a full-load displacement of 3,650 tons.

They are powered by a Rolls Royce MT30 gas turbine engine and two Leonardo DRS permanent magnet motors driven by MTU 12V4000 diesel generators in Combined Diesel-Electric or Gas (CODLOG) configuration. This enables the ship to reach a maximum speed of 30 knots.

The Daegu-class are armed with a  BAE Systems 127mm Mk.46 Mod.4 naval gun, one 20mm Phalanx close-in weapon system (CIWS), eight SSM-700K Haeseong anti-ship cruise missiles, six anti-submarine torpedo tubes, and a 16-cell K-VLS vertical launching system with the K-SAAM medium range air defense missiles, the SSM-700K Haeryong land attack missiles, and the K-ASROC anti-submarine rocket.


[1] Jane’s Defence Weeky
[2] Naval News