The Cheon Wang Bong-class tank landing ship (Korean: 천왕봉급 전차상륙함; Hanja: 天王峰級戰車上陸艦) is an amphibious landing ship class of the Republic of Korea Navy.
In the late 1980s the Republic of Korea Navy decided to gradually replace its aging fleet of World War II-era LST-542-class tank landing ships (renamed Un Bong-class LST) purchased from the US Navy in 1958. A three phase plan was laid out to develop new landing ships to meet the demands of modern amphibious and transport operations.
The first phase was designated as the LST-I project, and development and design started in 1987 by Korea Tacoma, currently Hanjin Heavy Industries. After 4 years of development, the lead ship Go Jun Bong (LST-681) was launched in 1991. Three more ships followed and all four ships were commissioned by 1998.
The second phase, or LST-II, was originally planned to import four Newport-class tank landing ships, but after being postponed due to budget issues, it was changed in favor for domestic built 4500-ton LPDs to be commissioned by 2013-2016.[3] After the construction of the first vessel, a follow-on contract for four additional vessels were awarded to Hyundai Heavy Industries in December 2013.[4]
