Siege, Gambit,
and Scramble
U.S. Destroyers Contributed Mightily to the Korean War Effort
By DAVID F. WINKLER
Dr. David F. Winkler is a historian with the Naval Historical Foundation.
During their 50th-anniversary year (1952), U.S. destroyers were in combat
on the front lines off the Korean peninsula carrying out a broad spectrum
of missions to thwart Communist North Korean and Chinese objectives. A
half-century later, during the centennial year of the destroyer force,
it is appropriate to recall some of the heroic efforts of the "Tin
Cans" that answered the nation's call to duty.
All of the U.S. destroyers that served during the Korean War were constructed
during World War II, and most saw combat during that war. Four of the
WWII veterans--USS De Haven, USS Mansfield, USS Lyman K. Swenson, and
USS Collett of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 91--were in the Far East when
the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) troops crossed the 38th
Parallel dividing North and South Korea. Mansfield and Swenson initially
deployed with the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge, providing plane-guard
and search-and-rescue services in the Yellow Sea. The destroyers then
swung over to the East Coast of the Korean Peninsula to interdict the
movements of enemy ground forces ashore. Swenson's commanding officer,
Cdr. Robert A. Schelling, recalled, "We would lie-to at night ...
[near] where the coastal road ran along a cliff. We drew a bead on the
headlights of truck convoys and let go two or three gun salvos."
While the American gunfire resulted in few direct hits, the action forced
the North Koreans to turn their headlights off and proceed perilously
ahead.
Equipped with Army SCR-608 radio sets, the Tin Cans began providing effective
direct gunfire support for the U.S. forces holding the Pusan perimeter.
On 13 September, with the front lines stabilized at the tip of the peninsula,
the DesDiv 91 destroyers, joined by two more U.S. destroyers, USS Gurke
and USS Henderson, and by two British and two American cruisers--steamed
up Flying Fish Channel to conduct two days of shore bombardment in preparation
for the landings at Inchon. The eight U.S. and British warships pounded
North Korean positions and exploded mines that were exposed on the channel's
surface during low tide, helping to ensure the ultimate combat success
of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's bold gambit to put U.S. Marines ashore well
north of the DPRK's front lines near Pusan.
While all this was going on, the U.S. Navy shore establishment was rushing
numerous mothballed destroyers back into commission and recalling thousands
of naval reservists to man them. The scramble to find commanding officers
for these ships was so hectic that the Bureau of Naval Personnel detailed
officers from outside the surface community. Veteran submariner Cdr. Chester
W. Nimitz Jr., for example, suddenly found himself with orders in hand
to command the USS O'Brien, an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer that not
only had taken several German artillery hits during the Normandy D-Day
campaign in Europe but also survived two kamikaze strikes during the battle
for Okinawa in the Pacific.
When the Communist Chinese intervened in November 1950, U.S. destroyers
contributed covering fire for the Hungnam evacuation. Because of their
firepower and maneuverability, the Tin Cans also were assigned to participate
in the Siege of Wonsan. This operation, which started in February 1951,
required holding the islands at the entrance of the harbor and making
frequent sorties into the harbor to fire on enemy supply lines and other
targets of opportunity.
The recommissioned O'Brien conducted several forays into the harbor to
shell the Communist positions. When the enemy returned fire, Nimitz recalled,
"We would execute a 'war dance,' as they called it, and would try
to suppress their fire as we went around. I used to go up and man the
director myself, because I could see so well. ... You would see guns poking
out of holes in the cliffs, and you would fire one of your own guns ...
until you felt you were right on them, and then rapid-fire six guns."
Enemy gunners failed to hit Nimitz's ship, but they did inflict damage
on a number of other destroyers over the two-year span of the siege. But
if the destroyers at Wonsan carried on the Navy's tradition of sailing
into harm's way, duty elsewhere along the East and West Coasts of Korea
proved no less hazardous: Twenty other U.S. destroyers sustained hits
while dueling enemy gun batteries; mines put five other destroyers temporarily
out of combat.
Note: A half-century later, the heroic actions of these ships and their
crews will be discussed at two symposiums scheduled to be held at the
Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.; "Korea, The Peninsula War, 1951-53"
is scheduled for 26 October; "Destroyers 100" will be held sometime
in November. *
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Sources: Naval Historical Foundation Oral Histories with Rear Adm. Chester
W. Nimitz Jr. and Capt Robert A. Schelling; Malcolm W. Cagle and Frank
A. Mason, The Sea War in Korea, Naval Institute Press (1957); and "U.S.
Naval Ships: Sunk and Damaged during the Korean Conflict" on www.history.navy.mil.
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