Yangyang-class minesweeper (양양급 소해함, 襄陽級掃海艦) is a ship class of minesweepers currently in service on the Republic of Korea Navy.

Quick Facts Class overview, General characteristics ...

The ship in front is the Yangyang-class minesweeper Ongjin
Class overview
Builders	Kangnam Corp.[1][2]
Operators	Republic of Korea Navy
Built	1999–2021
In commission	1999–present
Completed	6
Active	5
General characteristics
Type	Minesweeper
Displacement	730 tonnes (718 long tons) 880 tonnes (866 long tons) (Full load)[3]
Length	60 m (196 ft 10 in)[3]
Beam	10.5 m (34 ft 5 in)[3]
Propulsion	2 × Voith Schneider Propeller[1]
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)[4]
Range	2,970 nmi (5,500 km)[4]
Complement	about 50[4]–61
Sensors and processing systems	Side scan sonar Variable Depth Sonar[1]
Electronic warfare & decoys	Mine Disposal Vehicle (MDV)[4]
Armament	1 × 20 mm cannon[4] Multi-purpose machine gun[3]

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Its main missions are gathering data of ports in the Korean region, and searching naval mine and minesweeping, in wartime.^[3] They sometimes used at finding and recovering North Korean missiles, by using Variable Depth Sonar to detect missile fragments.^[5][6]

Ongjin, second ship of the class, is famous for finding the stern of ROKS Cheonan at the site of the ROKS Cheonan sinking.^[7]

At the Korean War, Korea did not have proper minesweeping equipment, and it was all about pulling naval mines out of fishing nets or blowing up floating mines with light machine guns. Therefore, North Korea inflicted massive damage by the naval mine.^[8] In the 1980s, Korea developed and used 6 Ganggyeong-class minehunters, which were the base of Yangyang-class ships.^[1]

In the 1990s, the Navy made an upgraded minehunter design, based on the Ganggyeong-class. The first ship was launched and commissioned in 1999, which was named Yangyang. Two more, Ongjin and Haenam, were launched a few years later. Compared to Ganggyeong-class, Yangyang-class ships improved minesweeping ability, and increased hull size.^[1]

Yangyang-class ships are 60 metres (196 ft 10 in) long, 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in) wide. They are equipped with Multi-purpose machine gun,^[3] a 20 mm (0.8 in) main gun, and Mine Disposal Vehicle (MDV). They use two Voith Schneider Propellers as propulsion, to control the ship more precisely. To perform minesweeping activities, mechanical/inductive minesweeping device and sonars are equipped.^[1]

Officially about 50 crew are boarding the ship.^[4]

The naming of minesweeper ships is taken from the names of counties and towns adjacent to a naval base.^[4] For example, Yangyang is the name of Yangyang County, Gangwon Province.

• Ganggyeong-class minehunter
• Wonsan-class minelayer
• Nampo-class minelayer