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FF Amnok-class corvette

Amnok class class frigate was the former Hetman Bayda Vyshnevetsky (ex-Krasny Vympel), a Krivak III ship for Ukrainian Navy cancelled in 1995. It is believed that a single incomplete Krivak III hull was transferred to Russia and in 2003 the incomplete hull was sold to North Korea. The satellite image of Rasung Port in North Korea had been updated 20 March 2020. At first glance, the Amnok-class corvette seemed to be close to completion, but is it ready to deploy?

The source of the nomenclature remains a bit obscure. The DPRK shares borders with China and Russia on the north bounded by the Amnok and Tuman rivers respectively. Seemingly Western intelligence [ie, probably DIA, not NATO, since the DPRK is pretty far out of area] has designated the DPRK's new corvettes/frigates after these two rivers.

In November 2007 Google Earth made waves with an image of a warship anchoring, its weapons removed, in Nampo port near the Taedong River in North Korea. The 3,000-ton 123.5 m [401] feet long Krivak-class frigate was manufactured in Russia. The picture of the 3,000-ton destroyer attracted attention because the North was only known to have three warships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons -- two 1,500-ton Rajin-class frigates manufactured in the 1970s and one 1,600-ton Soho-class frigate in the 1980s.

South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities had assumed that the warship was imported as scrap metal given that it has no guns and radar. But it is possible that the North will install weapons in the vessel to use it as a warship. The satellite imagery obtained in 2007 indicated no change in the condition of the empty hull, though it subsequently disappeared from the harbor.

	3,670-3,900 tons full load
Speed (kts):	30-32 knots
Dimensions (m):	123.5 meters long 14.1-14.2 meters beam 4.6-7.2 meters draft
Propulsion	COGAG: 2 cruise gas turbines 24,000-24,200 shp, 2 boost gas turbines 36,000-48,600 shp; 2 shafts,
Crew:	198-200