ROKS Cheongju on 10 November 2015
History
South Korea
Name	Cheongju (청주)
Namesake	Cheongju
Builder	DSME
Launched	20 March 1992
Commissioned	1 June 1993
Identification	Callsign: HLDY Hull number: FF-961
Status	Active
General characteristics
Class and type	Ulsan-class frigate
Displacement	1,500 tonnes (1,476 long tons) light 2,215 tonnes (2,180 long tons) full load
Length	103.7 m (340 ft 3 in)
Beam	12.5 m (41 ft 0 in)
Draught	3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Propulsion	CODOG 2 x General Electric LM-2500 2 x MTU 12V 956 TB82
Speed	34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement	186 (16 officers)
Sensors and processing systems	Signaal DA-08 air surveillance radar AN/SPS-10C navigation radar ST-1802 fire control radar Signaal PHS-32 hull-mounted sonar TB-261K towed sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys	ULQ-11K ESM/ECM suite 2 x Mark 36 SRBOC 6-tubed chaff/flare launcher 2 x 15-tube SLQ-261 torpedo acoustic countermeasures
Armament	8 × Harpoon (2 quadruple launchers) anti-ship missile 6 × 324 mm (12.8 in) Blue Shark torpedo (2 triple tubes) 2 × Otobreda 76 mm (3 in)/62 cal. gun 3 × Otobreda 40 mm (1.6 in)/70 cal. (2 twin) compact CIWS

ROKS Cheongju (FF-961) is the ninth ship of the Ulsan-class frigate in the Republic of Korea Navy. She is named after the city, Cheongju.

Development

In the early 1990s, the Korean government plan for the construction of next generation coastal ships named Frigate 2000 was scrapped due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. But the decommissioning of the Gearing-class destroyers and the aging fleet of Ulsan-class frigates, the plan was revived as the Future Frigate eXperimental, also known as FFX in the early 2000s.

10 ships were launched and commissioned from 1980 to 1993. They have 3 different variants which consists of Flight I, Flight II and Flight III.^[1]

Construction and career

ROKS Cheongju was launched on 20 March 1992 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and commissioned on 1 June 1993.^[2]