Korea's first naval rescue and salvage ship launched at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard.
The 3,500-ton Tongyeong will go through a series of tests before being handed over to the Navy next year.
The Navy's older rescue ships, the Pyeongtaek and the Gwangyang, were second-hand, bought from the U.S. Navy in 1996 having been originally built in the 1970s.
The new rescue ship will take only a day to reach outlying islands Yeongpyeong and Baeknyeong in the West Sea, which is half the time taken by the older vessels.