A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy (50 page)

On 25 June 1950, Communist North Korean forces invaded South Korea. The United States, within the framework of a UN resolution, responded to the invasion. As the defenders were pushed down the Korean peninsula by superior Communist forces, U.S. naval forces played a key role in slowing
the advance of the invaders by launching air strikes and firing gun missions at the enemy's flanks.

In one of the greatest counterstrokes of history, the U.S. launched a highly doubtful amphibious invasion well behind enemy lines at Inchon on the west coast of Korea near the capital city of Seoul, turning the tide and driving the enemy back up the Korean peninsula in full retreat. Only intervention by the Chinese Communists prevented a complete UN victory and brought the war back roughly to the seventeenth parallel, where it had begun.

The remainder of the war was a virtual stalemate, with each side making small gains at various times while both sides attempted to negotiate a truce. During the entire war, U.S. sea power kept the sea lines of communication open to prevent a Communist takeover of South Korea. Ships of the Military Sea Transportation Service carried the fighting men and millions of tons of dry cargo, ammunition, and petroleum products to Korea across the Pacific, thousands of miles from the United States. Gradually, as strength built up, the U.S. and Allied naval vessels tightly blockaded both coasts of the long Korean peninsula to deny the enemy supply by sea. Battleships, including USS
Missouri,
cruisers, and destroyers delivered sustained and accurate fire on enemy troop concentrations, lines of communication, and installations.

Carrier planes ranged deep into North Korea to strike at bridges, transportation centers, and other facilities, and they provided close air support for American and Korean forces along the fighting front. Mines posed the most serious and persistent threat to the UN's entry into coastal waters and to amphibious operations. U.S. Navy minesweepers met the challenge as they carried out the hazardous clearing of heavily mined harbors at Wonson, Chinnampo, and elsewhere.

Eventually, the war was brought to a close by a negotiated truce. Communist aggression had been stopped, and the Republic of South Korea remained free to pursue a democratic form of government.

Stars

Two silver stars represent ten campaigns and operations during the Korean War.

 

1. North Korean aggression (27 June–2 November 1950).
During the opening ten days of hostilities, destroyers covered the evacuation of American citizens as well as the movement of critically needed ammunition into
the combat area. The antiaircraft cruiser USS
Juneau
conducted the first bombardment of the war, and aircraft from the carrier USS
Valley Forge
blunted the enemy air effort by blasting airfields in the north. On the ground, outnumbered defenders fell back into a perimeter pivoted on the port city of Pusan. Vessels poured men and materials into Pusan and Pohang. Warships off the coast provided gunfire. Carrier planes added their close support to planes of the U.S. Air Force, thus enabling the embattled troops to maintain their foothold.

2. Inchon landing (13–17 September 1950).
In a bold counterstroke, the Navy's amphibious capability was brought into play with telling effect. A naval task force of the Seventh Fleet made an “end run” by landing the First Marine Division and Army troops at Inchon, outflanking the invaders and sending them reeling northward.

3. Communist China aggression (3 November 1950–24 January 1951).
Following up on the masterstroke at Inchon, UN forces pushed the invaders northward, back into North Korean territory. Naval forces supported the northward advance with gun and air strikes. As the Communist North Korean forces were driven farther north, approaching the Chinese border, their Communist Chinese allies entered the war, crossing the Yalu River and hurling back UN forces. In the early dark days of the reversal, U.S. sea power once again played a vital role. In mid-December. American amphibious ships successfully withdrew more than one hundred thousand military personnel, ninety-one thousand refugees, three hundred fifty thousand tons of cargo, and seventeen thousand vehicles from the port of Hungnam, while Chinese Communist forces were held at bay by heavy ship fire and carrier aircraft.

4. First UN counteroffensive (25 January–21 April 1951).
As the UN mounted its counteroffensive against the Communist forces, U.S. naval forces supported the land campaign by conducting air and gunfire missions against enemy lines of communication (railways, roads, bridges, for example), mounting an effective siege of the North Korea's principal port at Wonsan, inserting commando teams at key locations, conducting minesweeping operations, launching search and rescue missions, and providing close air support to troops.

5. Communist China, spring offensive (22 April–8 July 1951).
As the land war continued, naval forces continued to provide vital support. On 20 May, USS
New Jersey,
one of several battleships recommissioned for service in the Korean War, fired her first bombardment mission at Kangsong.

6. UN summer–fall offensive (9 July–27 November 1951).
Although truce talks had begun, the fighting raged on as each side vied for advantage, supported by U.S. Navy carrier and surface forces.

7. Second Korean winter (28 November 1951–30 April 1952).
The Navy continued the struggle under the arduous conditions of the Korean winter; Sailors frequently had to chop away large accumulations of ice from ships' topsides to prevent them from becoming dangerously top heavy. Flight deck crews also had to struggle with ice, snow, frigid winds, and temperatures that froze lubricating oils.

8. Korean defense, summer–fall 1952 (1 May–30 November 1952).
This period was marked by extensive carrier operations against North Korean targets, including the capital city of Pyongyang and many power plants.

9. Third Korean winter (1 December 1952–30 April 1953).
U.S. sea power continued to keep the pressure on Communist adversaries while negotiations continued for a truce.

10. Korea, summer–fall 1953 (1 May–27 July 1953).
In the final months of the war, U.S. Navy ships and aircraft kept sea lines of communication open and maintained pressure on the Communists in the hot war in Korea while containing the Communist threat elsewhere as part of the Cold War.

Since the Korean War, the flexibility of the U.S. Navy has never been more evident. Various naval elements have been involved in numerous and varied operations, including direct intervention, forward presence, peacekeeping, retaliatory attacks, emergency evacuation, sea control, and humanitarian aid. These operations included the amphibious and other actions of the Sixth Fleet in response to the appeal of the Lebanese government in 1958; Seventh Fleet operations off Quemoy and Matsu and in the Taiwan Straits between August 1958 and June 1963; the Berlin crisis of 1961; support of UN operations in the Congo between July 1960 and September 1962 and again in November 1964; the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and the “quarantine” enforced by the Second Fleet; Dominican operations in 1965 and 1966; certain actions in the Korean area during 1966 through 1974; varied operations in Southeast Asia; operations in Lebanon between 1983 and 1987; landings in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, and Haiti; strikes against Libya in 1986; various operations in the Persian Gulf from 1987 to the present; and peacekeeping operations in the Balkans.

While other major operations (such as the Vietnam War and the first Persian Gulf War) have been recognized by their own individual battle streamers, the various operations listed here have been recognized under the generic battle streamer for Armed Forces Expeditionary Service. It is anticipated that other operations will be recognized and added to this battle streamer as time goes on.

Stars

Five silver and three bronze stars represent twenty-eight different expeditions to date that are recognized by this battle streamer.

 

1. Lebanon (1958).
Supported by naval units offshore, U.S. troops were sent into the small Middle Eastern nation that was threatened by civil war and invasion.

2. Taiwan Straits (1958–59).
To send a strong deterrent message to the Communist Chinese who seemed intent upon attacking the Chinese Nationalists, a six-carrier task force positioned itself in the straits of Taiwan.

3. Quemoy and Matsu Islands (1958–63).
When these two Nationalist Chinese islands were bombarded and threatened with invasion by the Communists on the Chinese mainland, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered elements of the U.S. Seventh Fleet to intervene. The presence of this U.S. fleet caused the Communists to halt their bombardments and prevented them from seizing the islands.

4. Vietnam (1958–65).
After the French withdrew from Indochina and before direct U.S. involvement with massive military power, American advisors lent support and provided large amounts of money to the South Vietnamese government's struggle against insurgent Communist (Vietcong) forces. U.S. naval advisors became involved in the so-called brown-water operations on the rivers and littorals of Vietnam, eventually leading to active involvement through the River Patrol Force, the Coastal Surveillance Force, and the Mobile Riverine Force. U.S. Navy ships ran surveillance operations off the coast of North Vietnam, and special forces conducted raids against enemy facilities along the Communist coast. In the “Tonkin Gulf Incident,” U.S. surface ships and carrier aircraft battled with North Vietnamese naval units and subsequently launched retaliatory air strikes.

5. Congo (1960–62).
The U.S. Navy helped the UN prevent disorders in the newly independent states in the African Congo region.

6. Laos (1961–62).
U.S. forces were involved in the fighting in Laos between the U.S.-backed government and the Communist Pathet Lao.