Navy revives ‘Ocean-Going’ slogan

The Navy has revived the use of its slogan “Ocean-Going Navy,” signifying its commitment to strengthening open water operational capabilities, a source said Friday.

“The Navy is officially using the term ‘Ocean-Going Navy,’ which hadn‘t been in use since the sinking of the Cheonan,” the source said, referring to the deadly North Korean torpedoing of the warship in March 2010. “The term Korean Ocean-Going Navy has appeared in documents and PR materials.”

The source also said the Navy is looking to add more Aegis destroyers to its fleet by 2020 and to put its maneuver fleets at the center of the Ocean-Going Navy.

Over the next eight years, a 7,600-ton class KDX-III destroyer, a 2,300-ton next-generation convoy and a 5,000-ton next-generation landing craft will be added to the Navy, along with fast attack craft and submarines.

The Navy had been using the term ’Ocean-Going‘ since 1980 in a show of its commitment to protecting sea lanes and executing operations across the deep waters of open seas. But it disappeared from the Navy’s papers after the Cheonan sinking, as critics pointed out that the term implied that the Navy had overlooked its coastal defense.

The Ocean-Going Navy can also refer to a force capable of carrying out independent operations in open oceans for an extended period. Navies of the U.S., Britain and France are described as ocean-going. (Yonhap News)