V.

E!Navy News

Where the ColdWar turned--- hot,

2 NAVY KOREA WAR SUPPLEMENT 2000

www.navynews.co.uk

June 25, 1950 marked the start of an East-West slogging match destined

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" ABOVE RIGHT: Members of a Royal Marines raiding partycool-lyprepare to blow up a railway line in North Korea after beinglanded by sea behind enemy lines.

Picture IWM

" ABOVE: Enemy action was not the only hazard - here HUASSydney rocks and rolls through a typhoon which W85 to damageseveral aircraft on deck.

j 'THE NASTIESTIII F WAR

" The face of the enemy- Two North Korean prisoners, captured

in a raid ashore, are given food by a P0 Cook on board the NewZealand Loch-class frigate HMNZS Rotoiti. iwo

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THIS CENTuRYJAR

IN KOREA burst upon the world sudden-ly, unexpectedly. That small, much-con-quered country, which had up to 50 years

ago spent centuries in a backwater of world affairs,became the one place on Earth where the Cold Warturned hot. For three years, one month and two days,Korea -'The Land of the Morning Calm'- became abloody arena in which the Armed Forces of the Westconfronted the powers of Communism in whatAmerican historian S. L. A. Marshall has described as"the nastiest little war this century."

It brought Last and West to Commando KM. participationnin athe brink of World War Ill, and commonwealth brigade and at

in itself claimed the lives of Ofl time or another - five aircralt

almost two million soldiers,earners, six cruisers, 21 destroycr

sailors and airmen - almost aand frigates, and IS RoyalRoyal R11-,c11

Auxiliary vessels.quarter f them fighting for the

The West, in the throes ofunited Nations. The civilianstand-off with Stalin in Europe.Casualties cannot be numberedwas caught looking the other wa

with any accuracy, but it is when on Sunday. June 25. 1950 thethought that at least a million

135.txxi-strong army of Northperished. Korea's communist regime - led by - ' I

- -A

Ii have been made difficult forsarfare. hilly, with few good roads.'.ored by winding rivers and poor1% mapped, it baked in summer andro/e hard in winter. But one of themost enduring memories of thePace, brought hack by those whocrved there, was its smell - theli,iltklourous result of the Koreanpractice of fertilising the land withhuman excrement.

I'his was the unenviable countryiner which the United Nationsought its only protracted war inthe name of freedom. In varying-.trcngths. 15 nations fought for theIN against the forces of NorthKorea and China. But the UnitedNations' main agents were theUSA who provided three ArmyCorps and one Marine Divisionand the hulk of the air and navalassets. Apart from the forces ofSouth Korea, the contribution ifBritain was the next highest withtotal of two Army brigades ailisupport units. 41 Independent

allel which formed the border withUS-supported South Korea ruledby the dictatorial but anti-commu-nist Dr Syngman Rhee.

With a speed of movement rem-iniscent of a World War II

blitzkrieg, the North Koreans -

many of them battle-hardened bythe 5mb-Japanese war and hol-stered by Russian-supplied 1-34tanks, artillery and 2(Kl piston-engined combat aircraft - capturedthe South Korean capital of Seoulin three days. They swept asideRhee's Republic of Korea (ROK)army which had no tanks, no anti-tank guns. no aircraft, no heavyartillery and which was at that timenumeri&-iillv inferior nand tinter-triintl iii

" A Firefly is armed with rockets and cannon shells in HMSTriumph in preparation fora raid on advancing communist forcesduring the summer of 1950. PL~supplied by Alan Ere

Korea had bee it is idetl thin np each under theirtint ted Koreathe last months of World War II. own terms.essentially to delineate the military Though minor border clasheszones of action of US Forces and had been taking place as thethose of Russia (which had entered Forties drew to a close. Americanthe war against Japan shortly diplomacy and intelligence failedbefore Tokyo surrendered). to pick up the signs that a full-scale

However, as the Cold War tookinvasion was imminent. As a result.the US were entirely unprepareda grip in the late l94tb, the dividing for the onslaught. iiidav. a belief

line at the 35th parallel acquired among historians is that Stalin,political significance, with the

although sanctioning the attack.oviet-sponsored regime in the

probably did not instigate it. Butnorth, and the US-hacked govern- with East-West diplomacy at itsment in the south spolarising ide- lowest ebb, that was not America'stiopieallv and irreconcilably. Yet.

perception at the time. In theiii itrli'.t riiIf!s. he nt II 555-

States. Senator Joseph McCarthy'sRed itch hunt was under way.andKim Il Sung was seen as a eat s paw

r Stalin and Mao Ts.. lung in atier plan to weaken the West byinsression - with Korea as the

gun batteries. Picture iwaw Iarting pistol.

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lhe trigger was pulled at a time

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" Admiral William Andrewes discusses plans in the OperationsRoom of HMS Triumph. As luck would have it, he was command-ing a task force on a goodwill deployment to the Far East whenNorth Korea struck.

P1rr,, supple'iiby Eth,anibates

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www.navynews.co.uk NAVY NEWS KOREA WAR SUPPLEMENT, MAY 2000 3

to go on for three bloody years and claim the lives of three million people

Trains and boats and0 50 100 150 200 250 Miles

U.S.Splanes . .CHINA

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Limit of UN advance- - -

-A -

July 1950

--_44p

Noah -,jflJ

c -1NORTH

°KOREA

Chosin Pulonreservior

rewvlor

)

UN Front Line

-July 1951-----------------

LFeb 1951

s '4

Sea of Japan

YellowSea

SOUTHKOREA UNFront Line

- Until Sept 19504A

A

si hen tic I S timed forces stere atthe liisscst jsitt iii their post-warrun-down, their numbers havingbeen cut from 12 million to lb mil-lion. and defence spendingreduced from $82 billion to $ 13 bil-lion. Nearly every army unit wasunder strength. under-trained andunder-equipped

The nearest US combattroops available for SouthKorea at the time formed thearmy of occupation inJapan, and they lacked 62per cent of their infantry fire-power and 14 per cent oftheir tanks.

They were under file coniniandoftine of the USAs greatest soldierheroes of World War II, GeneralDoulas MacArthur. 70 years old,charismatic, egocentric. AsSupreme Commander for theAllied I'owcrs in Japan. his 110 wasin luksii sshcre on June i he stas

ordered h Presidentuse his forces to oppose the com-munist invasion.

In the meantime, on June 27,Truman had promised immediateUS naval and air support for SouthKorea. and that night the UnitedNations passed a US-sponsoredresolution calling on membernations to "render such assistanceto the Republic of Korea as may benecessary to repel the armed attackand to restore international peaceand security to the area."The strength of Americas

riposte was a shock to China andthe Soviet Union. The latter, amember of the UN SeeuritCouncil. would have used its vetoto block the resolution to send theUnited Nations to war over SouthKorea had it not been for the factthat it was boycotting the UN atthe time - a mistake that it neverrepeated.

Uh;it da - too. America asked

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" A Fairey Firefly fighter-bomber about to land on HMS Triumphafter an armed reconnaissance mission over the west coast ofNorth Korea in August 1950. IWM

JAPAN

" ABOVE: The see-sawnature of the first 12months of the war isshown by this mapproduced for Navy Newsby our graphics artistAndrew Brady.

" LEFT: The cruiser HMSJamaica took part in thefirst naval action of theconflict.

and rcccited the help iii is closestally. Britain. in the military t;t,kahead.The first and most immediate

support the UK could give ste.through the Royal Navy. By ehancan RN task force under the Cititmand of Rear Admiral WilIi.iiiiAndrewes was in Japanese water.On a cruise. his force included heaircraft carrier IIMS Triumph. hecruisers Belfast and Jamaica. iiifive escort vessels, which were pitit the disposal of the Commander

I. S Naval Forces Far Fast.

In all, there were 22British warships in FarEastern waters, and by cut-ting other tasks to a mini-mum -

they included theMalaya and Yangtse patrolsand the defence of HongKong

- more ships weremade available to the UN.

n June JO. President lruiii.teordered the bombing of Nit IKorea as well as a naval hlock,itwhich was to continue unbroken ithe end of the war. Two days Loci.hiMSJamaica and the frigate 1IIISBlack Swan were engaged in thefirst naval action of the conflictwhen they were attacked h siNorth Korean F-boats off the ci'.:coast. In the brief, decisive fight. ii.bar one of the F-boats were sunk.On the same day the Jamaic.

joined the first bombardment it

the war, a joint US-UK operationto harass the enemy's left flank

Then six days later the British

cruiser was hit by a shell fromshore battery, killing a sailor - .iniI se soldiers from I long Kong whohad joined the ship for her summercruise They were the first Britishe.isualiies of the war a! sea.

Meanwhile on the other, westcr11. side of the Korean peninsula.in the Yellow Sea, the frigate IIMSAlacrity started the patrol whichwas to grow Into the %5C51-ei,i'i

"Turn to supplement page 6I

. IMS JAMAICA, one1° the most active

JJ warships in thefirst months of theKorean War, was notoriginally meant to be inthose waters.

tier chaplain, the Res.Raymond Lowe, recalls thatshe had been sent from theWest Indies station in 1949 to

replace ElMS London. whichhad been badly damaged dur-

ing the Yangtsc Incident,At first. Jamaica's change ofpr

gramme seemed to bring recreational benefits on AdmiralAndrewes's flag-showing deplo

-ment around the Far East. Then.two days into a journey to establisha refuelling and recreational basein Japan. Jamaica found herselfsuddenly at war.

With the American flagship USSJuneau and in company with thefrigate ElMS Black Swan. Jamaicawas the first British warship toenter Korean. waters after the com-munist invasion, tier orders withthe rest of the group were to horn

east-coast roads being used bythe North Koreans.

In those first few days the Navymen saw signs of the savagery withwhich the war was to be fought.Raymond LA-owe remembers: "Onthe way to our designated opera-tions area, we passed a stretch it'.5:1-i iii ',stih st-ri l;irite numbers

7~Lt Tim Fetherston-Dilke -

hose HMS Jamaica's targets.it corpses tied in pairs. I ti iiiknow who these people were. butthe stink was nauseating."

Near the 38th Parallel, the com-bined force began shelling a coastalrailway line with uncertain results.as trains tended to shelter in thetunnels cutting throuh the Koreanhills, One of Jamaica s officers was24-year-old Lt (later Cdr) TimFetherston-Dilke. lie remembersthat on the day following her initialbombardment, the cruiserclosed infor "another go":"Our 1,'pe 293 radar operators

saw nothing on their screens, whensuddenly our look-outs sightedNorth Korean F-boats heading outrut the coastline --

" LS John Wade - under airattack in HMS Black Swan.

All three I. N '.s.irstuips enagedthe smaller vessels with bin, 4in andclose-range weapons. Of the sixattacking boats, five were sunk,"My recollection is that we pickedup two survivors from the sunkenboats," said Cdr Fetherston-t)ilke."After that encounter, we did notclose the coastline quite so closelyby day."

lie was given the task of choos-ing a suitable night target. and setJamaica's sights on the communist-occupied road and rail junction ofYanang, near the 38th Parallel:

"I passed the initial range andbearing of our target to the bridgeU Turn to supplement page 5

4 NAVY aiwa KOA3UP.T 2000

/ S BOY Seaman/ 1 \ James Irvine scannedI.j-...lthe enemy shorelinein Korea on yet anotherbleak, damp dawn, hethought it the most desolateplace in the world.

Ill his ship. the I rigale I (MS StBride's Bay. news was filteringthrough to the lower deck that theYanks were planning a landing atInchon. Steel helmets and anti-flash clothing had been issued and

gun practice became intensive.interminable.

With its tidal peculiarities andenclosed waters, the west coast pert ofInchon was an unlikely place for a land-

ing. Architect of the scheme. General

Douglas MacArihur. knew it. Ilk staffknes it, and several of them had saidso. Now on board his command ship theUSS Mount McKinley. hewas gamblingthat the North Koreans knew it. too,and would not be present in force.

MacArthur believed that hisinvasion plan, Operation Chro-mite, could win the war for theUnited Nations at a stroke. Butthere were several hurdles toovercome. One was that thecommunists would detect thefleet movements in time to rein-force their men on the heightsoverlooking the landing areas.

And if that didn't happen. how couldthey be persuaded not to take the hintwhen US marines hit the beaches of anoffshore island a full II hours beforethe main assault on Inchon itself? Theisland, Wolmi-do, commanded the nar-row approaches to Inchon and its cap-ture at dawn on t)-Day

-September 15

- was a vital preliminary to the landings.which due to tidal conditions could nothe made until just two hours beforedark.

It was essential that the communists'eves should he focused elsewhere -around the Pusan perimeter "here

(,encral 'silkcr\ Eighth Arms wouldstrive to lic t hem busy, and on thecst coast ("fKa , orea. which was moresuitable for a landing and where raids

by special forces were designed to rein-force that calculation.

Among the ships which took part inthose raids was the sister ship of the StBride's Bay. HMS Whitesand Bay,whose shallow draught made her idealfor the task. At first the frigate support-ed landings by South Korean regularforces and guerrillas who. drcsscd i

" James Irvine - he would never

forget the spectacle.

fishermen, went ashore from motorisedjunks.An AB gunner in the Whitcsand Bay,

Tom Naish, used to watch the progressof the raids through his 4.5in gunsights."They took about two to three hours,and when they returned from their tar-

gets. villages were mainly left on fireand most of the enemy killed. But wenoticed that the South koreans broughtout young women - and cows, tiedwith rope and towed behind the junk-s!

There were also signs that the NorthKoreans were ruthless in their treat-ment of civilians in the villages theyentered. "Within days of their raids wesoultl find the people that had escaped

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" The port and town of Inchon under seabomeand aerial " A F?oy.i/ Navy iii reconnaissi000 photograph showing Atattack. Pciuiesutp.edbyEdw&dOal.s advancing inland past burning T-34 tanks on the Ilnchon-Seot

on all sorts of things that would float,"said him. "Working with an interpreter,we sorted them out to be put on afriendly island."

At the end of August, the WhitcsandBay was ordered to Japan as the first

stage of a vital role she was to play todraw the enemys eyes away fromMacArt Ii u rs planned invasion target ofI nehi ni -

At the naval base of Sasebo,the frigate embarked US SpecialForces, who with a small, 14-man group from 41 Cdo RoyalMarines - Poundtorce - wouldmount a diversionary raid in theKunsan area two days beforethe Inchon landings.

: Americans seemed to makeX-turret deck their home on

.,:d where they shared their K-rationsa ith the British sailors -

burgers andiscults. peaches in syrup, and ice-ream, finished off with a couple of

Lucky Strike cigarettes.Rubber boats were prepared for the

.iiderx, and when the Whitesand Baarrived off the target beach. the coni-iiandos struck out for shore at Zeroour.Under the full moon. Tom followed

heir movements through his gun binoc

iIirs.."They ran up the middle of theeach in their normal, gung-howay, but

just before they reached the rocks allhell broke loose with machine-gunfire."The raiders ran hack towards the

boats, some of which had been punc-tured by enemy fire. "Most of the

equipment was dumped and they hur-ried hack to our ship." The British

frigate was now herself under threat offire and prepared to get under way. Asshe did so, Tom spotted a rubber boattied to the quarterdeck with one of theUS Marines still lying in the bottom.

Jumping into the boat, he lifted theman on board the frigate with the helpof a shipmate, just as the ship's pro-pellers began turning.

"Thai night we buried two of theAmerican Special I-iirees over the stern,

and the day after that the rest of themwere taken off by landing craft." herecalls.Soon the Whitesand Bay was off

Inchon, where Tom got another grand-stand view as "all hell broke loose"when the big ships began their bom-bardment.On board the St Brides Bay. James

Ira inc was at his action station as star-hoard look-out on the bridge as thecoast at Inchon was illuminated byflares and starshell, lie watched bun-

0 Boy Seaman Ron Godsall -

killed in a communist air attack onHMS Jamaica.

dreds of launches and landing craftscuttling about amid the dim silhou-cttcs of the transports and rocket-launching craft. He would never forgetthe spectacle of the invasion fleet

crowding the small inlet:

"Alongside the transports, soldierswith all their combat gear clambereddown the scrambling nets into the

pitching craft below. As the first wavesof landing craft headed for the beach(this must have been on Wolmi-doisland), the gunfire suddenly stopped.

From his vantage point, James sa aUN patrol craft destroyed by the fire of

enemy shore batteries. Most of the sur-vivors took to the life rafts

J

while others clung to the

upturned hull, watchingthe procession of landingcraft pass by. Meanwhile,about SOyds astern, anassault craft also lay hot-

0 HMS ~~rid Bay - fulfilled adiversionary role, and (right) AS

gunlayer Tom Naish in the US MarineCorps locket he acquired.

tS -.

--a

-ø

kit

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tom-up, but with no traceof survivors.

Of the bicr ships, the- -cruiser Kenya had

harding the Inchon areafor the previous two days,expending over 750

been among those born-

rounds of bin ammuni-tion. Using US and British

spotter aircraft she had

despatchcd several enemyguns and installations withrio loss to herself - withthe exception of much ofbe crockery she had

bought a few days earlierin Japan.

11 could have been

worse. especially as she encountered atminefield on her approaches to lnchon,the only countermeasure available:being the guns of escorting destroyers.

11cr role won for her a commends---tion Irom Rear Admiral J. M. I liggirrs.the US commander of the 5th (ruiscrrDivision. lie told Kenya that her "out--

standing conduct and worthy aecom--

plishrncnts - . . were an immediate:.ma,or contribution to the war effort."

Jamaica. loo, was in the thick of it,,again. ()it

( )rtirr:irs Sign:ilmam

&tL'

" Dick Bedford - he d

.or,'cover as the Yak strafed the ship,from stem to stern.

Dick Bedford was not at his usualaction station as dawn broke on D-Dayi.Jamaica was at anchor, and as theeweather the previous night had beenipoor, cable had to be taken in for thday's firing. Dick Bedford was a mcmi-her of the six-strong cable party wittfthe task of signalling by hand flags thanumber of shackles of' cable that halIbeen brought in.

On the bridge, Lt TimFetherston-Dilke surveyed the

port of Inchon through hisbinoculars. It was worrying thatthe hills around the coast blind-ed the ship's air-warning radar.

Then, as the sky lightened, two piss-ton-engined aircraft appeared out offthe low cloud base. They were eommu'onist Yaks.

Dick Bedford watched them flyingacross the anchorage, heading towardsa big American cruiser ahead of thceJamaica. lie saw what looked like twa)bombs being dropped, both missingtheir target.

Boy Seaman Michael Stephens had saperfect view from his perch on a gumdirection seat, as one of the attackcrt-sturned away and the other headed foirthe British cruiser. "lie came in on ouir

port quarter at an altitude of abouti1(X)ft. and about Soft off our side anid

proceeded to strafe our port side from,stem to stern."

The ship's 4in guns were not able tto

engage the fast, low-flying target, buttthe cruiser's pom-poms and Bofort'sguns were.

The cable party stood in astonishi-ment until they saw cannon-shelil

6indel

" MacArthur watches his masterstroke put into effect from the bridge ofhis HO ship at inchon, USS Mount McKinley. P,ciu,o suppi,xi by

- ' lx,

11f

ncr,can armour and troops " The entrance to Inchon viewed from the bndge of HMS Belfastit road.

. (CO. Capt SirAubrey St CIair-Ford). .;.'.

in the water just level with theI of the bridge, andthen even -

ed for cover. Dick Bedfordimsell behind a metal cast,1utot high and flattened himself

printed I5yds to take cche ship's forward gun turret

non shells hit the bridgeTim Fetherston-Dilke was

Ing; splinters passedjh into the Royal Marinesieck; tracer bullets camethree feet of the ship's

am, the Rev Raymondas he was broadcastingover the 'tannoy tele-

aircraft passed down the ship.Stephens could see white andmcs spurting from the wings:t I saw, he was tumbling into adive with bits spraying fromhit the water just forward 01and the only recognisable partg. bobbing down our starboardas his starboard wheel and

rriagc leg.-

as the only time in Timon-Dike's Naval career that heto pick up his microphone andSt to the fleet: "Splash one

were many narrow escapeson board the Jamaica -includ-of asailor who, finding himselfse of fire, ducked behind cover,find that he'd dived behind a

lodger (or screen).vcr'vone was its fortunate. BoyRon Godsall, a member of thethe multiple mjxm creditede aircraft's destruction. was

wounded. tie was transferred

tospital ship USSCompassionic later died. Dick Bedfordhat God.sall's brother had been)in the ship two weeks later.believed to be the first time inthat a ship had shot down an

Raymond [owe remembersnaica's Commanding Officer.A. Ballance, was astonished toas a souvenir, the wheel of theYak. The tyre had been signedless a figure than Genera]hur.

IMS Kenyaexpended over 750rounds ofammunition in 'softening up'theInchon1ences. Picture supplied by George Punter . .

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NAVY NEWS KOREA PLZMENT 2000 5

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" From supplement page 3

.111(1 the tr:iI1smIttin st,itlon or ourmain armament. Seconds later, the

Captain gave the order to engage.and off went a broadside of eightbin shells. We had hit the powerstation, and the lights of Yan'angwent out.---A day or two later, on July . the

ships resumed their train-hustinr.but by now the North Koreans hadmoved an artillers battery into

rition.It %4;ts to lead to (6c firl

33rc.isuiIt cs of the war at sea

On board Jamaica was a

group of soldiers who as atreat had been allowed to

join the ship forher Far Eastcruise. Apparently they hadbeen given the opportunityto return to their base whentheorders changed, but theyhad chosen to stay.

"As %he were so undermanned.these lads finished up by (vers

capably) manning Ill and 112 4111

guns." said Michael Stephens. one

ofthe Jamaica's boy seamen. When

the communist guns opened upthey straddled the cruiser, one shell

hitting the base of the DOn widemainmast and showering the ill

gun crew with splinters.Five of the soldiers and one

sailor - Alt John Mawdsley -died,and five others were wounded."Never have I felt a cruiser

accelerate from 10 knots to near 31knots quite so rapidly." said TimFctherston-Dilke.The duty of conducting the

funeral at sea fell to Raymond[owe who remembers having to

perform the sad ceremony whilethe cruiser steamed at high speedbecause she was within range of

land-based enemyaircraft.Jamaica was not the only British

warship to come under effectiveattack that summer. The destroyerHMS ('omus had been involved in

screening IIMS Triumph and, fromthe outset, in coastal bombardmentof the Korean cast coast.

Then, on August 23. while

patrolling inshore on the westcoast, she was attacked by two Yak

fighter-bombers. Oneof the bombs

exploded close on the ship's portside, tearing a hole in the hull juston the waterline. Although not asdestructive to life and limb as theattack on the Jamaica. it proved tobe one of the most damaging inmaterial terms to any British vessel

engaged in Korea.The forward boiler room was

holedandhad to be flooded, recallsLi Cdr Richard Read, who at thetime was Comus's Assistant

Gunnery Officer. "The only casual-

ty was a leading stoker mechanicwhohad gone to start up the auxil-

iary generator in the tsuilcr room atthe sound of the action-stations

"HMS Comuspictured from the aircraft carrierHMAS Sydney and

(inset) a dry-dock photograph, supplied by Richard Read, of thehole torn in her hull by an enemy bomb.

gong.. His both was recovered hthe Engineer Officer using diving

apparatus. and he wasburied at seawith full military honours.' Comuswas able to return under he ownsteam for

repairsin Japan.

During this period Black Swan -

'The inside of ourturret sounded

nothing less thana madhouse.

Everyone was like araving maniac, withsweat dripping offus, our clothessoaking wet...'

inevitably known to her ship's com-

pany as the Mucky Duck -also hadan air encounter. She was bom-

barding a harbour installationwhen (.S John Wade noticed two

planes apparently dropping bombsover the area: "The aircraft thenturned towards us and to our

amazement and consternationstarted to strafe the ship with can-non fire."

Fortunately there were no casu-alties and the fighters headed offwithout attacking again

- andadis-

turbing suspicion took root in the

ship. "We were informed that wehad been attacked by two enemyaircraft,' said John. "hut to this dayI wonder if we were perhaps the

- " The Rev Raymond Lo~

I conducts the funeralat sea ofthose killed in theshelling ofHMSJamaica on July 8, 1950.

Ptcea stqrpias by OckBedVoid

":1tI kth-

Li

Ictim of what is no ktum'v, ii asfriendly fire', and perhaps the

pilots thought we were firing at

them.-Later. John found himselfinvolved in acoven operation whenire volunteered to act as secondcoxswain in one of Black Swan'shoats which had to recover anAmerican agent from behind thelines:

I agreed to go provided therilotor cutter and not the whalersa.s used, as I didn't fancy the ideaof pulling an oar when someonenra'. be firing bullets in my direc-tion ...

"At dusk we set off, not withoutsome trepidation, with a look-outarmed with a linen gun stationed inthe bows. The phosphorescencewas cascading all around the boat.and this gave the impression thatsse must he seen br nile-..

"Suddenly there was aloud splash from forward,but we needn't have worried- it was only our intrepidbowman letting the sparebarrel of the Bran fall overthe side."As the boat approached the

shore a pre-arranged signal was

flashed to the spot where the agentwas supposed to be waiting

- but

there was no reply and the boat

returned. "We never found out thefate of the agent, but hoped that

he'd been successfully recovered."

Among the other warships tak-

ing part in the bombardment and

blockade of both the east andwest

coasts in those first weeks of thewarwere the cruisers IIMS Belfast

and IIMS Kenya.In five days of action off Korea

in my. 1950, the Belfast. wearingthe flag of Admiral Andrewes,wrecked harbour installations, fac-

tories. roads, an ammunition

dump, and military hardware-and

took part in an intense bombard-ment of the militarily importanttown of Yongdo)k.

At the time, a gunner in the

Belfast. AB John gunnergave thisaccount of what it was like to workthe cruiser's bin guns after anhour's heavy bombardment:

"The inside of our turret sound-ed nothing less than a madhouse.

Everyone waslike a raving maniac,with sweat dripping off us, ourclothes soaking wet, andevery timethose breeches flew open, ready forthe next shell there would be a

great blast of hot air - just like ovendoors opening, only hotter. Everytime my ramrod metthe breech shesinicd like mother's frying-pan."

In August -after pluckinga downed US aircrewmenfrom the sea - HMS Kenyaco-operated with theCanadian destroyer HMCSAthabaskan and a force ofROK ships in clearing com-munists from the island ofTakuchaku To, leading up totheport of lnchon.

[he Kenya noted that manycivilians took the brunt of theROK's

softening-upbombardment.

leaving the cruiser s medical teamsto give emergency aid. Sadly, thereisas little that could be done for atleast one small child, injured withtier mother. The little girl died on

hoard and was buried at sea, whiletier young mother was landed at'..isebo in Japan for treatment.

ftc menof the Royal Navy were

beginning to sec the horrors of thewar at close quarters...

" Lt Richard Read - Assistant

Gunnery Officer of HMSComus.

"Royal Marines commandos embarki J landing craft for araid on enemy installations.

" By dawn s early light- American landinq craft it Inchon.

- --

" The Executive Officer of HMS ken.i !..ii; Hemy gunknocked out by the cruisers bombardment. . t11,1 1 1 M4

6 NAVY NEWS KOREA WARSUM~"2000 www.navynews.co.uk

Royal Navy aircraft destroyed 30 vessels in three days of coastal sweeps

How Fleet Air'mw

" A rocket fired by a Seafire scores a direct it on an enemy vessel lying close inshore during acoastal sweep by HMS Triumphs aircraft in August. 1950. The wing of the Seafire from which thephotograph was taken Is in the right of the frame. Below. Seafires of 210Naval Air Squadron fromHMS Theseus overfly Canadian destroyer HMCS Nootka while returning from a raid. efur iw

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Arm strikeskept upthe pressureF.JIRST of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers in action off Korea was the 18,000-

ton Colossus-class vessel HMS Triumph equipped with Seafires -

LJ navalised Spitfires - and Fireflies, fighter-bombers which had formed themainstay of the British Pacific Fleet in the closing stages of World War II.Also forming part of the highlighted during a tour of the up on being strafed.

ship's equipment was the Sea carrier while she was at herbase of Sasebo. The

With the land campaign in crisis.the BritishOtter, a biplane amphibian Japanese carrier joined the naval

which acted as the carrier's air- Americans were amazed at the blockade of the Korean west coast

sea rescue aircraft and mailcrudeness of British air detection at the beginning of August. co-

plane. David Gillard. a leadingradar. 'They thought we were hid-

ing something when taken to seeoperating with small vessels of the1(0K forces to attack craft sailing

air mechanic in Triumph at the the old 2I.' he said, in inshore waters t(x) shallow fortime, recalls that in a gale the

allowhad to slow downThough approaching obsoles- destroyers and frigates.

toship ccncc. the Seafircs and Fireflies m. final link in the three-the ancient-looking Otter to proved effective complements to

year blockade had beencatch up. the US Navy's Panther jets, forged with Triumph's

The age of the helicopter was Skyraidcrs and Corsair'. in wide- seam-es and Fireflies prob-.ipproachmg

- the US 4avy was ranging attacks on airfields and theing every inch of coast

perating them from their carriers infrastructure supporting the almost up to the 38th parai-vet the lumbering Sea Otter could advancing North Korean forces in let, and intruder aircraft

still be an effective life-saver asone 1950.maintaining the pressure at

downed American pilot was able to Triumph's Second Commission night.testify after being plucked from the book tells of sweeps in whichsea 1w the biplane off the commu- almost anything that could have During the first three days of theinst-held coast, been of use to the communists was operation British aircraft destroyed

Another sailor in Triumph. Alan attacked, and how North Korean almost 3)) vessels which until tIenLyre, remembers the disparity in camouflage skills were appreciated

had been reaching enemy lines

(IS and British equipment being when the occasional haystack blew undetected. A.'. well as that task.I'rit,mnh ,.ngusl,.,i for cruisers on

r

" HMS Theseus - her aircraft made more than 3,400 sorties...

v

t_;';, ; con-ducted aerial reconnaissance which

proved insaldahle in subsequentoperations.

'There was close co-operationwith the USN, though on at leastone occasion there was potentiallydeadly confusion. A Sea ire, scram-bled to investigate an unidentifiedaircraft, encountered an Americanbomber, which took the fighter fora communist Yak - and promptlyshot it down. Fortunately. the pilotwit'. able to hale out and, thoughbadly burned, was rescued and ho'.-pitaiiscd in Tokyo.

.Mars Lyre remembers the inci-dent: 'Rumour was our pilot saidthat he flew alongside and waggledhis wings, but the Americans saidhit he approached their aircraftout of the sun. Afterwards, whetherlee,muse of that incident or because

the lnchon landing.'.. our planesicic decorated with black-and-lute stripes as used for the 1)-Day

.ini), lies fl France."

As well as fulfilling theirprimary role, aircraft carrierswere proving useful in otherways. HMS Unicorn doubledup as a troopship, takingsome of the first British sol-diers to Korea.

they embarked at l long Kongnd included the headquarters of

Brigade. And in Portsmouth.Re'. Itussev. who had just joinedhe carrier IIMS Warrior. remem-tiers her being converted to take.(KKI troop'.:"She looked a hit of a rust buck-

et, but she had a good turn of speedand a rear crew. tier flight deckisas a hit twisted, but it was OK forleek hockey.'Soon after the Inchon landings,

triumph was relieved on station byIIMS Thcscus -

equipped withmore up-to-date Sea Fury fightersis well as Fireflies. tier seven-n,unth deployment covered themost harrowing period of the war,md her 3,44h-sortie mission -which will he covered in moredetail in Part 2 of this supplement

-

won for her the Elect Air Arm's topaward, the Boyd Trophy.... but not without mishap. 1

11,11: :,t4 .V,,,vm

www.navynews.co.uk NAVY NEWS KOREA WAR SUPPLEMENT, MAY 2000 7

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" A Firefly prepares to take off on a bombing raid - in this case"

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from HMAS Sydney. Pfo IWP,(

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t!M quiz am

"HMS Unicorn - she was used to ferry troops to Korea.- . .'O (,y C

-'t I H J'I5.s (''rd)

" . PART 2 OF THIS SUPPLEMENT WILL-APPEAR IN OUR JULY ISSUE

U From page 3hlock.ide, and s hich, v, uth theLJSN fulfilling a similar role onthe eastern side, would form oneof the Royal Navy's main contri-butions throughout.

Fventually, this British forcewould include the air strength ofup to two earners in rotation. Thefirst was HMS Triumph which,with 12 Scafires and nineFireflies, launched her first 'hotwar' attack for five years. The tar-

get: Kaihu airfield 120 miles dis-tant. The raid left it obscured byblack smoke.

'['hose were among the first ofover a million sorties flown by UNaircraft over the next three years

-

amounting to an average ofalmost l,O(X)aday, 3(X) of them bycarrier-based aircraft, and most insupport of ground troops.

Although the war on landwould be subject to a deadly see-saw of victory and defeat, fromthe very outset the US andCommonwealth forces estab-lished air superiority and totalcommand of the seas, allowingtheir aircraft carriers and othervessels to operate relatively closeinshore along Korea's craggy.island-strewn coast, and oftenwithin range of enemy shore bat-teries.

Not only was this dominancedecisive in maintaining scaborneair support and - where possible

-

big-gun cover for UN land forces,but it made reinforcement and

supply of the Korean peninsula avitally uninterrupted operation.As precarious as their positionwas at times, it is unlikely that theUN troops would have been ableto hold on in Korea under theadditional strain of uncertain

resupply.In July and August of that year,

the position of the UN's landforces, mainly US and ROK, wasat crisis point. The first t S corn-

arrived in Korea on Jul I - I heywere soon ill action, hut with the

surviving units of the 1(0K armywere steadily pushed hack by themore determined North Koreans,who even managed to capturedthe US divisional commander.

Major-General William Dean.'flwo more divisions from Japan

Xicklyreinforced the 24th, but all

1rec were forced to continuetheir retreat southwards through-Out July.On July 13, US force in Korea,

soon to be bolstered by freshDivisions and contributions from

'The Fleet unitsunder your

command... haveadded another

glorious page tothe long and

brilliant history ofthe navies of the

BritishCommonwealth'

- Gen Douglas MacArthur

the Commonwealth and othernations, were formed into EighthArmy under the command ofGeneral Walton Walker.

By the end of the monthWalker had established a positionhe felt he could defend - thePusan perimeter comprising thesouth-cast corner of the peninsulaincluding_ the south-coast port ofPusan. e perimeter itself was131) miles long and was anchoredon favourably defensive terrain,principally the Naktong river.

liii tii!hotiI -\tieui't the North

"HMS Belfast's 6in guns speak out at Inchon.

effort to break through. ButWalker hadbcen further reinforced and in fact, his forms now i

Ioutnumbered the North Koreans

facing him -although at the time . " . .

the poor Allied intelligence whichwas a characteristic of the war hadnot divined the fact.The stiffening resolve of the

perimeter's defenders, and con- ,.

..' .

tinual air attacks on the over-stretched, spent enemy stabilisedthe situation into stalemate.Among the reinforcements t' .

arrive in Korea in July were the300 officers and men of the hast i

17.formed 41 Independent

mmando Royal Marines, it' . .members being coastal raidingspecialists under U CoI Douglas Il)rysdale RM who had led .i -Commando against the Japanesefive years before. - " ""- .

- --Clothed and equipped by theAmericans - though retaining

. . . "their green berets - they spent theearly autumn conducting sabotai . . " -:raids on the coast of North Kore. . . ,

. . . -__--.: .being landed b US and RoyalNavyThr

Pu5tscblow

railways.they Ceylon brings first UK troopsDeadlock on the Pusn perime-

ter, and the demoralised state of THE FIRST British troops arrive In Korea. They their pipers played standing on V turret,US forces there. persuadedhad been hastily embarked in the cruiser HMS MeanwhI, on the jetty, a Korean band, a USMacArthur that a new, bold initia- Ceylon at Singapore and on August 29 we band and a children's choir took turns toper-livewas necessary to release the landed by her at Pusan. form. The show went on during the four hoursCommunist stranglehold. lieIt was a ceremonial entry which must have fttook todisembark thetroops andtheir stores.would mount an amphibious bemused the beleaguered Americans who were Having delivered her human cargo, Ceylon'soperation on the west coast, as there to see It The soldiers were from 1 at west coast patrol began a week before the=rationto Seoul and the 38th paral-Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Hlghlandera, and lnchon landings, for which she protected thelet as possible, thus turning the their standard flew from Ceylon's peak while approaches. r'xnm ser by Ft K J MrNorth Korean flank and winningthe war at astroke.

It was indeed a bold plan - take place barely two hours beforelnchon was a remarkable success. and MacAr-thur knew it. lie pre-some believed foolhardy "

-darkness impeded further principally because the area, as it sented Washington with a faitbecause the US forces were ill- advance. The landing force wouldturned out, had not been held in accompli and went in hot pursuitprepared for what looked likely to number 70(XX). The population ofany

Weof Kim II Sung's crushed butdeli-hean opposed landing, one of the lnchon was 250,(MX). The two US regiments that ant army acras the 38th parallel.

most difficult military operationsIn an attempt to keep the corn- spearheaded landings lost only 21) That set the alarm bells ringingas was well appreciated by thosemunists guessing, diversionarykilled and 180 wounded. The in Peking. which was alreadymilitary minds who had relatively raids were ordered on more likelygamble had come off, and Inchon incensed by the deployment at thefresh experience of Salerno, landing sites on the east coast. proved to be -a MacArthur master- end of June of the US Seventh\nzio, the Pacific islands cam- Joining US Special Forces in thatstroke. It was to he his last. Fleet to protect Chang-Kai-Shek's.uugn. And, of course, Normandy venture on September 12-13 were

Seoul quicklyNationalist island stronghold of

Ih,ch took years of planning. 14 men 0141 ('do who, under Lttured - Formosa (now Thiwan) against

MacArthur wanted the land-i - ; . (. I). Pounds, were dubbed

d - possible Chinese attack there.it changed hands a

hugs that autumn, at the port of 'Poundforee'. Two days later. onIn

devastating fourWashington had throughout

Inchon. The location, in itself. September 15, they landed withNorththe crisis believed that the

presented difficulties. Strength of the Americans at Inchon. Korean am,('hincsc were acting in concert

resistance would be uncertain. The British cruisers IIM shipsenedV r: C

with the North Koreans, although.oid all MacArthur could send Jamaica. Ceylon and KenyaY r.- prodigiousprodigious50 years (in, several historians,ushore would he two 1)ivisions - formed part of the bombardment

advances

fighting

summerhave cast doubt (in whether that

RI Marines and 7th. forming the force for the landings, while0

was so before MacArthur enterednew X Corps under Lt GcnTriumph provided spotter aircraft

retreatatsback acrossthe North.

I-dward Almond.For their guns. The Royal Navy'ste93thIn any event, Peking used its

in addition, the landing area destroyers and frigates carriedparallel.diplomatic links in India to warn

,A its overlooked by steep hills, andclose and outer screening duties. There the war could have rest-America that it would not eountc-\ (OflS( would have to take anThe success of the British born- cd. and the USA and her allies nancc US troops in North Koreaoffshore island which commanded hardment - which destroyed sev-could have argued that the UN and on the Yalu river whichhe approaches to Inchon a full II eral enemy guns ashore - was resolution of the previous June formed the border between Northhours before the main assault, recognised by a typically robusthad been fulfilled. gut that would Korea and ('hind.unavoidably giving - the enemy signal front MacArthur tohave been reckoning withoutIgnoring the signals, the INhtruor notice of intentions.Admiral Andrewcs: "My heartiestMacArthur, the hero of the hour, command continued to pursue its

There were fierce currents in congratulations on the splendid and other hawks in the US mili- broken enemy, taking the Northhe approach channel, andconduct of the Fleet units undertary and hotly politic. Korean capital of Pyon'ang onInchon s 32ft tidal range meant your command. They have added After all, the North Korean September 19 and pressing onthat there were only three dates another glorious page it) the longarmy, though defeated, had not towards the Yalu - a movementthat autumn when the tide would and brilliant history of the naviesyet been destroyed, and now thai would prove to be one of thehe high enough to give the big of the British ('ommonwealth."MacArthur, on his own initiative, greatest miscalculations of theI;unduic er:ult list three hours lor ill its scratch planning intl Intl them to las down their arms war..isliore. .\iid the landing had to llilecrt;uintics. lie I;uuidiuig Ii 'i else I hat ihies would not do. U lo be continued in Part 2

'THE NASTIEST LITTLE WAR THIS CENTURY' .

8 NAVY ww8 KOREA WAR SUPPLEMENT 2000

Pembroke House-

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