Foreign countries have employed ROV in various types of salvage operations and have been enhancing ROV’s versatility. However,the actual usage of ROVs in the Korean Peninsula is seldom and has not demonstrated a performance as good as in foregin countries. Therefore, a study on usage of naval ROVs in salvage operatins near Korean littoral and shore is necessary.
For the study, current status of foreign, domestic, and ROK Navy’s ROV and cases of it being used in salvage operation have been researched and influence of Korean maritime environment to the employment of Navy’s ROV was analyzed and the result has been derived.
The result shows that strong current and turbid underwater visibility are major factors that affect the employment of ROV and usage of naval ROV near Korean littoral and shores are listed as following. First, it is impossible to completely overcome strong current and turbid underwater visibility. Second, although employment of ROV in the western littoral and few maritime sectors west of the southern sea is limited or nearly impossible due to strong current and turbid underwater visibility, it is possible to employ ROVs in other maritime sectors. In the future, a continuous study is necessary to overcome limits of its employment and to enhance its operational capability for various circumstances and mission.