Airbus Defense and Space photo
The North Korean navy’s newest destroyer capsized during launch at a shipyard in Chongjin on Wednesday. North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un, who was in Chongjin to observe the sideways launch, declared the sinking a “criminal act.”
But an accident may have been all but inevitable. Apparently desperate to build the most heavily-armed warships possible but constrained by their limited expertise and resources, North Korea’s naval architects designed an extremely top-heavy vessel.
Displacing just 5,000 tons, North Korea’s new Choe Hyon-class destroyers nevertheless pack a whopping 74 vertical missile cells, eight slanted missile launchers and additional launchers and guns. By comparison, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer displaces 9,900-ton and has 96 vertical launchers plus topside weapons.
The North Korean ship is nearly as heavily armed as the American ship despite being half the size. And since missile cells are high in the hull, they tend to drive a ship’s center of gravity toward, or even above, its metacenter.