The Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla (; Hanja: 大韓民國 海軍 特殊戰戰團; NAVSPECWARFLOT or WARFLOT) is a special operations force of the Republic of Korea Navy. The WARFLOT is also known as ROKN UDT/SEAL, because the UDT/SEAL is the most publicly known branch of the flotilla.

The UDT/SEALs under WARFLOT are heavily influenced by the United States Navy SEALs, which initially provided funding and expertise in the unit's creation, and still maintain a strong relationship by regularly undertaking joint combined exchange training (JCET) several times a year, utilizing American helicopter and submarine assets, and enrolling students each year in the U.S. Naval Special Warfare programs such as BUD/S and EOD school.

Units
Naval Special Warfare Flotilla - headquartered in Jinhae:
1st Special Mission Squadron - established January  1st, 2023
Counter-Terrorism Unit (CT) 
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit (EOD) 
Naval Advance Operation Unit
Naval Special Warfare Group (SEAL: Sea, Air, and Land)
1st Battalion
3rd Battalion
5th Battalion
Special Warfare Education and Training Battalion
Maritime Rescue Unit (SSU)
Operational Support Battalion 
Special Boat Unit 
Duty Support Squadron

Applicants and selection
The SWF teams take applicants among conscripts, petty officers, and officers. Most petty officers and all conscripts now apply before basic training while officers apply after commissioning (NA, ROTC, or OCS), completion of Surface Warfare Officer School (SWOS), and after they have been assigned to a ship. The BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL School) selection process is inspired by and similar to the U.S. Navy SEAL program, consisting of physical and mental challenges, such as Hell Week. The completion rate has been known to dip under 10% and usually hovers between 30–40%, leading to manpower problems as the unit continues to expand and has an increasing number of foreign commitments. Between 2010-2012 the completion rate was unusually high at 78.4%, which coincided with the unit's expansion.

Since 2010, most washouts have been retained as support personnel and equipment maintenance staff. Those who survive the first ten weeks are trained in open and closed circuit diving, demolition, land warfare and tactics before receiving the special warfare pin. It also includes learning to fight in close quarters under Multi UDT/SEAL Assaulting Tactics (MUSAT) training.

A SEAL/UDT team is made up of seven soldiers: a point man, a platoon leader, a communication expert, a machine gunner, a grenadier, an assistant leader, and rear security. Basic UDT/SEAL training is 10 weeks long for enlisted men and 20 to 26 weeks long for NCO and officers.

History
Underwater Demolition Unit (UDU) was officially established in 1954. Its parent organization was formed in September, 1948 when the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps set up a secret spy unit in Korea. In 1955 the unit was renamed UDU, short for Underwater Demolitions Unit. Its primary missions were infiltrating into North Korea, kidnapping or assassinating key officials, destroying key structures, resupplying agents, demolishing transportation infrastructures, reconnaissance, wiretapping communications of the North Korean army and attacking military targets in the North.

The SWF (also known in popular culture as the ROKN UDT/SEALs) were involved in reconnaissance missions in North Korea until 1980 when a number of operators were broken away to form the UDU intelligence unit.

In 1968, the Explosives Disposal Unit (EOD) was established and in 1993 the SWF were tasked with standing up a maritime counter-terrorism unit, which up until that point was the responsibility of the Army's 707th Special Mission Group. In the late 1990s, the main focus was on defense of the coast from frequent attempts by the North to infiltrate agents into the South using midget submarines. As of January 1, 2009, the Special Forces were reorganized again, and the Ship Salvage Unit (SSU) was subordinated to the 5th Battalion.

More than 300 UDU personnel were killed in over 200 missions into North Korea from 1948 until 1971, including missions with allies that included the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. However, only a list of about 150 names has been obtained by UDU, because of a fire at the unit in 1961 which burned all the data.

June 23, 1968 incident
Fifteen South Korean secret agents, a team of three and two teams of six, were sent to the North on a mission to seize a North Korean naval vessel and to kidnap a key officer. But the mission failed because of miscommunication among the South Korean vessels and the commander's misjudgment. It was about 2a.m. when the three South Korean vessels approached the bay from the Yellow Sea and met wired obstacles on the water, which made navigating harder. Without warning, the North Korean Navy started an attack that apparently killed six agents. The other nine South Korean agents returned safely to the South.

1996 Gangneung submarine incident
SWF were involved in the 1996 Gangneung submarine infiltration incident caused by North Korean agents, on a mission to spy on the naval installations in the area and then return. The submarine made a failed attempt to collect the team on the 17th, and returned the following day. The submarine, however, ran aground in the attempt, and all efforts to try to make her free were in vain. A 49-day-long manhunt ensued, from 18 September through 5 November, resulting in the capture or elimination of all the crew and members of the reconnaissance team, except one, who is believed to have made it back to North Korea. Four civilians and 12 ROK soldiers (eight by firefight and four accidental) died; 27 soldiers were wounded.

1998 Sokcho submarine incident
In 1998 the unit was involved in the recovery and search of a North Korean Yono-class submarine that had been accidentally snared in fishing nets near Sokcho, Gangwon Province. A South Korean fishing boat observed several submarine crewmen trying to untangle the submarine from the fishing net. The fishing boat notified the Republic of Korea Navy and a corvette towed the submarine with the crew still inside to a navy base at the port of Donghae. The submarine sank as it was being towed into port, it was unclear if this was as a result of damage or a deliberate scuttling by the crew.

Anti-piracy operations

Since 2009, the SWF have formed the core of the Cheonghae anti-piracy task group deployed to the coast of Somalia.  In the early morning of January 22, 2011, as part of Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden, 15 SWF operators boarded the 11,000-ton chemical freighter Samho Jewelry which was taken by 13 pirates 6 days prior; 21 sailors had been held hostages. ROKS Choi-Young, a 4600-ton destroyer, dispatched its SWF team at 4:58am along with a Lynx helicopter which then circled the ship and fired machine guns to distract the pirates. The boarding party of 15 SWF killed 8 pirates and captured 5 without taking any casualties after 3 hours of intense firefighting. All 21 hostages were secured, with one hostage suffering a non-fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen.

Sinking of the MV Sewol
SWF provided 114 men that took part in the recovery operation during the sinking of the MV Sewol, during which 304, mostly high school students, perished.

See also
 Republic of Korea Army Special Warfare Command
 707th Special Mission Group
 13th Special Mission Brigade
 United States Navy SEALs
 Naval Special Warfare Development Group

References

External links

 Official Site  
 flotilla soldiers knife training

Republic of Korea Navy
Navy
Naval special forces units and formations
Military units and formations of South Korea in the Vietnam War
Military units and formations established in 1955
해군 특수전전단(海軍特殊戰戰團, )은 특수전 임무를 수행하는 대한민국 해군의 특수부대이다. 약칭으로는 모체인 해군 수중파괴대와 육·해·공 전천후 작전팀을 의미하는 UDT/SEAL()이라고도 부르며, 대테러 작전과 EOD() 작전을 수행하기도 한다.

미국 해군의 네이비 실(Navy SEALs)을 모티브로 하고 본따서 만들어진 국내 특수부대로, 매년 시행되는 부대원들의 해외 유학이나 해외 특수부대와의 연합훈련 및 다양한 교류를 통해 발전하고 있으며, 국군 내 개방적이고 선진화 된 부대라고 할 수 있는 특수부대들 중에서도 가장 손에 꼽는 부대이다.

역사 
1955년 11월 9일 미국 해군 UDT 과정을 수료한 해군 장교 7명이 1기 교육생 26을 훈련시켜서 해군 수중파괴대(水中破壞隊 (UDT))를 창설했다. 1기 교육생도로 300여 명이 지원했고 26명이 수료했다.

베트남 전쟁에서 한국군 해군 파월 수송전대인 '백구부대'(白鷗部隊)로 배속되어, 함정의 안전을 위한 수중암초 등 수중장애물 제거 활동을 하며 해군 수송 지원임무를 수행했었다.

1968년에는 폭발물처리대(EOD)가 창설되었고, 1976년에는 특수전(SEAL) 임무가 추가되었다. 그리고 1993년 12월에 육군특수전사령부의 제707특수임무대대로부터 해상 대테러 임무를 이관받았으며, 이 해상대테러 임무를 전문적으로 수행하는 대테러특임대가 1999년에 5월에 창설되었다. 이로써 부대는 UDT(수중파괴대), SEAL(특수작전대), EOD(폭발물처리대), CT(대테러특임대) 이 네 가지 지역대로 나뉘게 되었고, 대원들은 이들 지역대 중 어느 한 곳에 배치되어 해당 임무에 따른 전문적인 훈련을 받게 되었다. 이후에 지역대란 이름을 '작전대'라고 개칭했다.

초창기엔 소규모의 수중파괴대였으나, 임무의 확대와 함께 규모도 성장하여 1983년 1월 제25전대로 재창설되었고, 다시 1986년 2월에 제56전대로 바뀌었다. 1998년엔 특수선박대가 창설되었다. 이후 이들 부대들의 통합 및 규모 증편의 필요성에 의해 2000년 1월 1일에 특수전여단이 창설되었다.

2012년 2월 1일, 특수전전단으로 증편되었다.

2017년 2월 1일, 기존 폭발물처리대를 확대개편, 폭발물 처리 부대로서는 전군 최대 규모인 폭발물처리대대를 창설하였다.

2018년 9월 1일 해난구조전대(SSU), 구조함 등이 특수전전단에 예속되었다.

2020년 2월 1일 초창기 수중파괴대(UDT)를 모체로 하는 선견작전대대가 창설되었다.

편제 
해군 특수전전단(UDT/SEAL)
 특전전대
 제1특전대대(진해): SEAL 특수작전대(SEAL: SEa, Air, and Land)
 공중작전대(Air Operations)
 해상작전대(Maritime Operations)
 해중작전대(Underwater Operations)
 제3특전대대(동해 제1함대)
 제5특전대대(평택 제2함대)
 특수임무대대(CT: Counter-Terrorism)(진해)
 폭발물처리대대(EOD: Explosive Ordnance Disposal)(진해)
 선견작전대대(Naval Early Operations)(진해)
 특수선박운영대(Special Boat Unit): 특수선박 관리/운용
 작전지원대: 교육, 훈련 또는 작전에 필요한 장비와 시설 관리/운용
 해난구조전대(SSU)
 교육훈련전대: 교육 훈련을 담당
 특수전교육훈련대대(UDT/SEAL)
 해난구조교육훈련대대(SSU)

장비 

 권총
 글록 17
 SIG P226
 제리코 941
 베레타 92
 K5 권총
 기관단총
 MP5
 MP5SD6
 K-7 기관단총
 K-1A

 소총
 HK416
 SIG516
 FN SCAR
 HK417
 K-2
 SG556
 기관총
 K3 기관총

 저격총
 SR-25
 AW50
 AWSM
 K-14
 PSG-1
 TRG M10
 유탄발사기
 M320 유탄발사기
 K201 유탄발사기
 H&K AG-C/GLM
 M32A1유탄발사기

작전 
 1965년 베트남 전쟁 당시 해군 수송전대 ‘백구부대’ 파병
 1983년 다대포 무장간첩 침투 사건 당시 간첩선 탐색작전 투입
 1993년 서해훼리호 침몰 사고 당시 구조작전 투입
 1996년 강릉지역 무장공비 침투사건 당시 침투한 상어급 잠수정 수색작전 투입
 1998년 속초 잠수정 침투 사건 당시 침투한 유고급 잠수정 수색작전 투입
 2002년 제2연평해전 당시 참수리 357호정 인양전 폭발물 탐색작전 투입
 2010년 3월 30일, 천안함 피격 사건 당시 구조작전 투입, 이때 구조 작전을 수행하던 한주호 준위(53)가 순직했다.
 2011년 1월 21일, 아덴만 여명 작전을 통해, 소말리아 해적에게 피랍된 대한민국의 삼호해운 소속의 삼호 주얼리호(1만 톤급)의 선원을 청해부대 최영함의 UDT가 모두 구조하였다.
 2011년 4월 21일, 청해부대 최영함의 UDT가 한진해운 소속 한진텐진호의 선원 20명을 모두 구조하였다.
 2014년 세월호 침몰 사고 당시 구조작전 투입

같이 보기 
 UDT - 제2차 세계 대전과 한국 전쟁에서 활동했고, 네이비 실의 전신이 된 부대이며, 대한민국에도 같은 목적의 해군 특수부대를 창설하는 계기가 된 미 해군 특수부대.
 네이비 실 - 미국 해군특수전사령부 예하의 특수부대.
 대한민국 국군 특수부대 - 대한민국 국군 특수부대의 역사.
 육군특수전사령부 - 대한민국 육군의 특수부대.
 해난구조전대 - 해군특수전전단 예하의 특수부대.
 메달 오브 아너: 워파이터 - 멀티플레이에서의 진영으로 등장.
 제707특수임무단 - 대한민국의 육군의 국가급 대테러특공대

각주

외부 링크 

 UDT/SEAL 전우회 

1955년 설립
대한민국의 특수부대
특수전전단
특수전
베트남 전쟁에 참전한 대한민국의 부대 및 편성
창원시 소재의 관공서