The Birth of the South Korean Navy

By DAVID F. WINKLER

Dr. David F. Winkler is the historian for the Naval Historical Foundation.

During World War II, the U.S. Coast Guard fully integrated itself into the naval war against the Axis powers. Initially, Coast Guard crews manned transports to ferry troops into combat. These vessels participated in nearly every amphibious operation in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. With the introduction of LSTs (tank landing ships), the Navy turned to the Coast Guard to crew 37 ships in the first wave of these innovative vessels, 13 of which were assigned to the European theater, with the remainder assigned to the Pacific. Eventually, 77 of these flatbottom ships would be operated by Coast Guardsmen.

The Coast Guard also provided sailors for 24 LCI(L) landing craft, which saw action in the Mediterranean, at Normandy, and, later, in the Pacific. During D-Day four of the LCI(L)s succumbed to enemy mines and artillery fire. At Normandy and in other landings the Coast Guard also provided coxswains for many of the smaller landing craft (Higgins boats or LCVPs) that put troops ashore.

In addition, beginning in 1943, the Coast Guard crewed 30 of the destroyer escorts that provided vital service protecting Atlantic convoys during the latter part of the war. Coast Guardsmen also manned smaller patrol frigates, which saw service in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. In sum, the Coast Guard sailed some 351 naval vessels into harm’s way during the war, and sustained material and personnel losses comparable to those suffered by the Navy itself.

After the war, however, and despite these contributions, Chief of Naval Operations Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz reevaluated the Coast Guard’s support of naval operations and recommended that, in future wars, the Coast Guard should limit itself to merely expanding upon its peacetime missions. Port security, maritime inspections and safety, search and rescue, and ocean patrols thus became the Coast Guard’s primary missions during the Korean War.

However, the Coast Guard’s most significant contribution during this era came well before the start of that epic conflict. When North Korean troops moved south on 25 June 1950, the Coast Guard had been providing essential support to the armed forces of the Republic of Korea (ROK—i.e., South Korea) for nearly four years. At the request of the U.S. Army, the Coast Guard had dispatched a small contingent, led by Capt. George McCabe, to the ROK to organize and train a South Korean Coast Guard. McCabe’s group, which arrived on 23 August 1946, was soon joined by the ROK’s newly appointed Lt. Cdr. Sohn Won Yi. The two men initially established an officer candidate program at Chinhae to train officers for coastal maritime service, and established an academy mirroring the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. Because of the pressing need to commission officers to lead the new service, the South Korean Coast Guard Academy initially offered only a two-year curriculum.

In the tradition of the U.S. Coast Guard, McCabe and Sohn made do with little resources—by, for example, using former Imperial Japanese warships as training platforms. In May 1948, Cdr. William C. Achurch relieved McCabe.

Shortly thereafter, though, the South Korean government decided that it really needed a Navy rather than a Coast Guard, so most of those in U.S. Coast Guard detachment returned home. Achurch stayed on to join other retired and reserve officers who were hired by the U.S. Army to train South Korea’s fledgling navy.

When war broke out, the training paid immediate dividends. Unfortunately for the ROK, former Lt. Cdr. Sohn, now an admiral, was in the United States accepting the transfer of three submarine chasers. To fill his shoes, the South Korean authorities asked the U.S. Navy to provide an officer to assume temporary operational control. Under the command of Cdr. Michael J. Luosey, the South Korean Navy set up patrol sectors, redeployed the South Korean Marine Corps, and hindered (but did not stop) the initial North Korean advance. Later though, with the return of Sohn and his three ships, the South Korean Navy played a key role in capturing and destroying several of the North Korean vessels carrying supplies for the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—i.e., North Korea) ground forces pressing the attack on the Pusan perimeter.

Note: For more information on amphibious landings see the web page http://www.ddaymuseum.org for the new National D-Day Museum in New Orleans. The WWII history of the U.S. Coast Guard is covered in Robert Erwin Johnson’s Coast Guard-Manned Naval Vessels in World War II found on the official USCG web page http://www.uscg.mil. Scott T. Price’s The Forgotten Service During the Forgotten War: The U.S. Coast Guard in the Korean Conflict, is available on the recently released U.S. Naval Institute (http://www.usni.org) CD, The Sea Services in the Korean War. Additional information on the South Korean Navy can be found in Edward Marolda’s Cold War chapter in the forthcoming Naval Historical Foundation book The Navy. Information on Korean War commemoration activities is available at http://Korea50.army.mil.