South Korea's first indigenous salvage ship at the center of a corruption scandal was delivered to the Navy on Tuesday after passing an operational capability test, military officials said.
   
The 3,500-ton Tongyeong has been at the center of a major controversy following allegations that a number of military officers took bribes from a local company that supplied faulty parts to the ship.
   
The vessel, built in 2012, could not be deployed for rescue operations in the aftermath of April's ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people after it was found to have an outdated sonar system.
   
"We delivered the next-generation salvage ship Tongyeong ... to the Navy at 3 p.m. today," an official of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
  
"Given the level of deterioration of the salvage ship currently in operation, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) decided on Nov. 28 to install the hull-mounted sonar (HMS) and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) (on the Tongyeong) at a later date, and as the Tongyeong was deemed fit for combat in a recent re-evaluation, we were able to deliver it," the official said.
   
During the November meeting, the JCS postponed the installation of the HMS and ROV to no later than September 2017 and December 2015, respectively, in order to enable the ship's early deployment.
  
The vessel's builder, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, tested the ship in four areas that earlier failed to meet the standards of required operational capability. The test showed that the Tongyeong is capable of carrying out the main tasks of a rescue and salvage ship, a military official said, requesting anonymity.
   
The Navy plans to conduct its own quality test and subject the ship to military drills before deploying it in April or May. (Yonhap)