Yung Yang (Agile) class mine countermeasures vessels
These ex-US Navy ships were extensively overhauled following transfer. In the early 90s, Taiwan authorities had purchased four modernized mine hunters from Germany. On July 12, 1991, four "MWW50" mine hunters were formally put into service in Taiwan navy's Zuoying base, becoming a modern mine-sweeping force of Taiwan's navy. These four mine hunters and another four US-made MSO ocean mine-sweepers together formed into the 236 combat force, placed under the jurisdiction of 192 sea fleet (mine fleet), which mainly undertake the task of clearing mines in the periphery of several key ports and sea traffic lines. These four mine hunters, designed and made by a German company, and sold at a cost of nearly 100 marks each, are the most advanced mine hunters of Taiwan's navy. The mine hunter is equipped with high-tech searching radar and active underwater sonar, what is most special of it is that it is equipped with a commonly called PB3 underwater processor, underwater surveillance and mine-sweeping action can be carried out by the remote-control method, thus dramatically raising mine-sweeping safety.
Taiwan's annual foreign ocean shipping volume approaches 200 million tons, the majority of which are undertaken by several important ports in Kaohsiung, Keelung, Hualien and Su'ao, so whether sea-routes are smooth or not is vitally important to Taiwan. The depth of water in Taiwan's surrounding sea areas ranges mostly between 50-60 meters, this makes it easy for the large-scale deployment of mines. Hualien and Su'ao ports in the eastern part of Taiwan, in particular, because they face the vast Pacific Ocean, it is fairly hard to impose blockade by forces, it is more possible for blockade by dense mine formation.
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