USS PC-823
35°07′33″N 128°39′43″E / 35.1258338°N 128.6620263°E
ROKS Baekdusan with South Korean flag painted on the side of the ship's superstructure in the 1950s
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | PC-823 |
Builder | Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company |
Laid down | 8 November 1943 |
Launched | 15 January 1944 |
Commissioned | 24 July 1944 |
Decommissioned | 11 February 1946 |
Stricken | Transferred to United States Merchant Marine Academy, June 1948 |
Renamed | Ensign Whitehead |
Fate | Transferred to South Korea, September 1949 |
South Korea | |
Name | Baekdusan |
Acquired | 17 October 1949 |
Commissioned | 26 December 1949 |
Decommissioned | 21 August 1960 |
Identification | Hull number: PC-701 |
Fate | Presumed scrapped |
Notes | Mast preserved at Republic of Korea Navy Academy |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | PC-461 |
Displacement | 280 tons |
Length | 173 ft 8 in (52.93 m) |
Beam | 23 ft 0 in (7.01 m) |
Draft | 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) |
Speed | 20 knots |
Complement | 65 |
Armament |
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USS PC-823
PC-823 served in the western
In September 1949, she was transferred to the Republic of Korea Navy and renamed ROKS Baekdusan, (PC-701), and played a major part in the Battle of Korea Strait, the small naval battle fought on the first day of the Korean War in June 1950. The remains of her mast are kept in the South Korean naval academy.
South Korea
On 11 November 1945, when the
On 17 October 1949, South Korea finally acquired the Ensign Whitehead (the former USS PC-823), at that stage a training ship of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Fifteen naval officers spent two months in the U.S. to fix her. The ship was in such poor condition that the only thing working was the engine. At last, on 26 December 1949 at New York, ROKN's first ocean-going naval vessel, Baek-du-san (PC-701) was born. Sailing from New York, a 3-inch main deck gun was attached at the Hawaii Naval Station, and 100 shells were purchased at Guam. PC-701 finally arrived at
On the night of 25/26 June 1950, on the South Korean eastern coast, she patrolled against infiltrators from the north. About twenty miles from the key port of Busan its crew sighted an unidentified ship. The PC-701 challenged the ship using signal lights, but receiving no response, turned its searchlight on the intruder. The light revealed a 1,000 ton freighter with an estimated six hundred to one thousand soldiers crowded on her decks. Heavy machine guns were mounted aft on the freighter with which the freighter crew opened fire on PC-701. The gunfire struck PC-701's bridge, killing the helmsman and seriously wounding the officer of the deck. She returned fire and engaged in a running duel with the freighter. According to veterans of PC-701, to increase the accuracy and penetration, PC-701 closed to within 400 meters of the freighter. The sailors had to use their M1 Garands to prevent North Korean soldiers from swimming to PC-701. The freighter was sunk between Busan and Tsushima Island. This was the modern ROKN's first battle and is known as Battle of Korea Strait.
After
After war, she retired in July 1, 1959 and after dismantled.[3]
Except for the fortuitous position of the PC-701 and the fighting qualities of the craft's crew, the North Korean soldiers might have successfully landed at the vital port of Busan. The poor state of combat readiness at the port could easily have led to its loss. In such an event, not even the small toehold of Busan would have remained to support the U.N. counteroffensive in Korea. This single naval action may well have prevented the fall of South Korea.[1]
Fate
Her mast is preserved at Republic of Korea Navy Academy.[4]
Further reading
References
- ^ a b "How a Lone $60,000 Patrol Boat and Its Single Deck Gun Changed the Course of the Korean War". The National Interest. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ "제2차 인천상륙작전을 아십니까?". m.monthly.chosun.com (in Korean). 2017-03-02. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- ^ "부산 남구신문". www.bsnamgu.go.kr. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- ^ "Photo". img.yonhapnews.co.kr.
External links
- Photo gallery at navsource.org