It takes one tiny change, to change the history of a person, a battle, a nation, and a world.
+++++
"Attention! North Korean vessel! You are crossing the Northern Limit Line! Turn your vessel back immediately!"
-Lt. Commander Yoon Young Ha of the PKM 357 at 10:19 AM
+++++
Northern Limit Line
Republic of Korea
June 29th, 2002
10:20 AM KST
"Sir, enemy vessels are refusing to turn around and is in our territory." Sergeant Seo Hoo-wan yelled at his captain, Yoon Young Ha, over the sound of the crashing waves.[1]
The lieutenant commander eyed the North Korean vessel with his binoculars. Taechong class patrol boat... Captain Yoon thought. Despite their T34 turret on the deck, we have the advantage if we're further away.
The commander's attention snapped back to one of the officers manning the radar. Lieutenant Lee Hee Hwan began to shout the distance of the approaching North Korean vessel.
"Commander! The boat is now 1900 meters from our vessel!"
Once again, all eyes fell upon the North Korean patrol vessel approaching. For an odd reason, the North Korean vessel had all their men with weapons and cannons pointed at the PKM 357. After a moment of a silent prayer and thinking, the commander pulled the mic of his headset closer to his lips, and spoke his command.
"All sailors of the PKM 357. You are cleared to engage the North Koream vessel. Corporal, aim at the North Korean captain with your cannon. The rest of you, fire at will."[2]
This command was met with a stunning silence for a moment, but the sailors instantly complied. Corporal Gwan Ki Hyung in the cannon turret aimed his 40 mm cannon at the bridge of the enemy vessel. After taking a glimpse at his family picture hanging on the turret wall, he aimed using the sight and fired two rounds into the enemy bridge.
The North Korean captain never knew what killed him as the two shots slammed into the enemy vessel's bridge and caused shrapnels to enter the bodies of 6 officers, including the captain. The officers fell down onto the deck, clearly dead. The North Korean sailors stared at their dead captain for a long minute, with a look of shock and surprise on their face. This delay was met with an additional few rounds of the cannon hitting the T-34 turret, which caused a significant amount of damage and casualties. At this moment, the MG-42s and the Gatling guns on the South Korean vessel began to fire. The North Koreans awoke from their shock and began to respond to the attack. [3]
By then, the attack had reached PKM 358 and the North Korean back up vessel. Captain Choi Yoon Jung saw the smoke and the flashes in the distance and immediately radioed the PKM 357. [4]
"This is Captain Choi of the PKM 358. What's going on over there?" Captain Choi asked frantically as the sailors of her ship began to man the turrets and deck guns.
The question was almost immediately answered by Captain Yoon of the PKM 357. "North Korean vessels attempted to attack our ship and had their guns directly aimed at us... I gave the orders to fire."
"WHAT?" Captain Choi screamed. That brought the attention of her entire crew. She apologized and responded. "That's directly against our rules of engagement! You're going to get court marshaled for this!"
"The lives of my sailors were at risk. The T-34 turret was pointed directly at us and so were the North Korean sailors. That never happened. Not even for the last 2 days. [5]"
Captain Choi bit her lips. The HQ and high command would definitely take action, but she had to call for backup before things got worse. "I don't know what'll happen to you, but I'm going to radio HQ right now in case this gets out of hand" [6]
"That's fine. We'll withdraw after we disable the patrol boat." Commander Yoon replied before cutting the connection.
Captain Choi quickly radioed the HQ about the situation and called for reinforcements. Her message was met with swift reply. The HQ promised to send two corvettes in the area to the NLL and launch jets and medical helicopters.[7]
The captain of the PKM 358 let out a sigh of relief and cursed under her breath. She hoped that the situation wouldn't get out of hand and there wouldn't be any South Korean casualties.
She was wrong, because this battle would only be the beginning of casualties...
+++++
[1] As in OTL, the North Korean patrol vessel refused to turn around and it was accompanied by another patrol boat. 2 South Korean patrol boats intercepted them just south of the NLL (Northern Limit Line). Though, the distance between the 2 South Korean and North Korean boats was quite far (the second North Korean boat was a diversion to isolate PKM 357),
[2] POD. In OTL, the North Korean vessel shoots first from a distance of 450 meters, catching the South Koreans completely off guard and knocking out a turret and crippling half the crew. The commander did consider firing first, but he decided to go against his thoughts and ordered the men to stand down, but to be on alert. This was mainly because the South Korean rules of engagement was to shoot after being fire upon.
In TTL, Commander Yoon, realizing that he has the advantage due to the relative distance and armaments of his boat, fires on the North Koreans first, catching them off guard and taking out the North Korean captain (he did die from a turret shot in OTL). Shooting from a distance of 1,800 meters, the North Koreans now have a harder time aiming and directing fire upon the bridge and deck of the PKM 357.
[3] In OTL, the North Korean T-34 turret was destroyed after around 3-4 shots slammed into the turret from the 40 mm cannon. The second shot did kill the members manning the turret and disabled it for some time.
[4] Like OTL. Except, in OTL, she saw the smoke of the PKM 357. Here, she's watching the smoke of the North Korean patrol vessel.
[5] As of OTL. The North Korean patrol vessel constantly went over the NLL and spied on the PKM 357 for three consecutive days before firing on the PKM 357 on June 29th.
[6] As OTL.
[7] As OTL.
Last edited: