Decommissioning Ceremony for Korea's First Submarine Jangbogo to Be Held... Decommissioned on the 31st

Jangbogo, the Republic of Korea's first submarine (SS-I, 1,200-ton class), will be decommissioned on December 31.

The Navy announced on December 29 that it will hold a decommissioning ceremony for Jangbogo at the Navy Submarine Command parade ground on the afternoon of December 29. The ceremony will be attended by Admiral Kang Donggil, Chief of Naval Operations; Ahn Byunggu, the first commanding officer of Jangbogo (retired brigadier general); former crew members and their families; and Georg Wilfried Schmidt, German Ambassador to Korea, along with about 300 other participants.

Jangbogo has served for the past 34 years to safeguard Korea's maritime sovereignty and will be decommissioned on December 31. At the ceremony site, submarines designed and built independently in Korea, including the Dosan Ahn Changho-class submarine (SS-III, 3,000-ton class), the Son Wonil-class submarine (SS-II, 1,800-ton class), the submarine rescue ship Cheonghaejin (ASR, 3,200-ton class), and the Ganghwado (ASR-II, 5,600-ton class), will be deployed to celebrate Jangbogo's retirement.

Admiral Kang stated, "Today is a meaningful day as Jangbogo, the first submarine of the Republic of Korea Navy, honorably retires after completing its mission to protect Korea's maritime security for 34 long years. We will forever remember the great legacy of Jangbogo, which protected Korea's bright future in the pitch-black darkness and led the history of Korean submarines. The submarines that follow in Jangbogo's footsteps will continue to defend the nation's seas in the deepest, most covert, and most powerful ways for the country and its people."

After the ceremony, Admiral Kang will present an honorary retirement certificate to Jangbogo. The honorary retirement certificate, the commissioning flag, and the nameplate of the decommissioned Jangbogo will be preserved as historical artifacts in the Submarine Command History Museum.