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Why the U.S. Navy Sent 4 Battleships To Attack North Korea During the Korean
War: In the final months of the Second World War, the battleships of the U.S.
Navy (USN) ranged across the archipelago of Japan, bombarding industrial,
military and logistical targets at will.

The Japanese military lacked enough ships, planes and fuel to defend the nation,
leaving coastal areas at the mercy of the steel behemoths.



Although most of the credit (such that it is) for the destruction of urban Japan
belongs to the bombers of the U.S. Army Air Force, the battleships and cruisers
of the navy contributed their share.

At the end of the war, most of the USN’s battleships were scrapped, sunk as
targets or placed into reserve.

 

When the United States went to war again, earlier than anyone had expected,
three battleships of the Iowa class returned to service, joining their
sister USS Missouri off the coast of Korea. For three years, these ships would
rain terror down upon North Korean and Chinese forces.


RESPONSE AND REACTIVATION

The ferocity and efficiency of the North Korean offensive of June 1950 into
South Korea took everyone, including the U.S. Navy, by surprise. Nevertheless,
local forces quickly responded, including the Oregon City-class heavy cruiser
USS Rochester, which used its eight-inch guns to soften beaches at Inchon and
elsewhere.



USS Missouri, the only U.S. battleship to have remained operational since World
War II, arrived in Korean waters on September 19, 1950.

In a few weeks she would conduct extensive shore bombardments along the coast of
North Korea. Missouri continued to provide fire support after the tide of war
turned in November; in December, she conducted bombardments to ensure the
survival of U.S. troops retreating from the People’s Liberation Army’s surprise
offensive.

Notably, the U.S. Navy decided not to transfer the three heavy cruisers of the
Des Moines class, which mostly remained in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
These cruisers, carrying auto-loading eight-inch guns, could lay waste to a
coastal area nearly as effectively as a battleship. However, they were regarded
as too important to the mission of deterring the Soviet Union to risk transfer
to the Pacific.

Instead, the U.S. government decided to reactivate the three other Iowa class
battleships. Iowa, New Jersey and Wisconsin had all entered the reserve fleet
before the beginning of the Korean War. All three remained in excellent
condition, and required minimal modification in order to return to service. The
most significant change came with the replacement of World War II-era
floatplanes by helicopters.




The navy recommissioned New Jersey in November 1950, Wisconsin in March 1951
and Iowa in August 1951. Several heavy cruisers also conducted tours off of
Korea, but the navy declined to reactivate any of the thirteen other battleships
in the reserve fleet.




OPERATIONS

Each of the four battleships acted as a flagship at one time or another,
contributing facilities necessary to the coordination of broader naval warfare
efforts. More to the point, however, the battleships used both their
sixteen-inch main armament and their five-inch secondary armament to pound
Chinese and North Korean positions along the coast. These positions included
cave systems, concealed artillery and command posts. As with the end of the
Second World War, the battleships also hit strategic and operational targets,
including railways, industrial parks and transport centers. These attacks, which
could range up to twenty miles inland, periodically disrupted but did not stop
Communist efforts to resupply their armies in the field.



Extensive mining reduced the freedom-of-action of U.S. naval forces, to the
extent that the battleships only rarely operated against North Korean and
Chinese positions along the Yellow Sea. Although Communist aircraft did conduct
attacks against major U.S. ships early in the war, UN air and naval superiority
made such sorties difficult as the war proceeded. Other than mines, the main
danger to the battleships came through coastal artillery, which they regularly
sparred against. However, the effectiveness of the USN in bombarding all along
the peninsula showed both countries how vulnerable they were to naval attack.

After a refit beginning in March 1951, USS Missouri resumed bombardment and
escort duties from October 1952 until March 1953. New Jersey carried out her
first shore bombardment in May 1951, and remained in the area until November.
She returned for a second tour in April 1953, and remained through the duration
of the conflict. USS Wisconsin operated off Korea from November 1951 until April
1952, and USS Iowa contributed short bombardment between April and October 1952.




REACTION

The Iowas certainly delivered a great deal of ordnance to target on the Korean
Peninsula over the course of the war. However, the overall impact of their
presence is difficult to assess. Communist forces quickly learned to move
critical facilities and troop concentration outside of the range of the
battleships’ guns, although the transport network was hard to shift inland.
Heavy U.S. bombing of target across Korea contributed to the general
destruction, making it hard to parse out how much the battleships themselves
mattered. The smaller, cheaper heavy cruisers could often deliver similar levels
of destruction to enemy targets. Still, the very presence of the battleships may
have had some degree of psychological effect on Communist and UN forces alike.


WRAP

By 1958, all four Iowas had returned to the reserve fleet. Although they
performed their shore bombardment role effectively, but not really any more
effectively than the smaller, cheaper heavy cruisers. The manning requirements
were significant, however, making them very expensive ships to operate for
extended periods of time. The navy would only reactivate one of the four
(USS New Jersey) for the Vietnam War, and only in partial service. In the
late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States disposed of the remaining thirteen
battleships in its inventory.



The Iowas nevertheless survived, and were finally reactivated (and modernized)
in the 1980s. The legacy of the Iowas’ performance off Korea lived on in North
Korean and Chinese naval doctrine and procurement. Both Pyongyang and Beijing
became aware of their dreadful vulnerability to naval attack, and developed
coastal defense capabilities intended to dissuade any foe from approaching their
waters. China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy has grown past that stage, but the
navy of the DPRK continues to concentrate on defensive operations in the
littoral.

The Iowas will not, of course, participate in any future conflict on the Korean
Peninsula. However, in the event of conflict USN surface ships will undoubtedly
contribute significantly to the conflict by means of land attack cruise
missiles. Moreover, the navy may yet provide USS Zumwalt and her sisters with
the means to provide gunfire support against land targets. In such a case, North
Korean coastal installations would become very vulnerable, indeed.

Robert Farley is author of The Battleship Book. He serves as a senior lecturer
at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the
University of Kentucky.

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OKLAHOMA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA: Tinker Air Force Base officials reportedly confirmed
that there have been 17 deaths in the area since spring of 2023, with some of
the causes of death potentially being suicide.

While the news was first broken by military.com, the commander of the base, Col
Abigail Ruscetta, confirmed the deaths of 17 people. 



Ruscetta reportedly said that 11 uniformed and civilian airmen had died due to
natural causes and accidents. However, the remaining six died due to some other
causes and remain under investigation.


WHO IS COL ABIGAIL RUSCETTA?

Colonel Abigail LW Ruscetta is the 72nd Air Base Wing Commander based in the
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where she is the leader of almost 3,000 airmen.
She is also responsible for a budget of  $5.4B in resources and $311M in
operations.

Ruscetta is also tasked with providing installation support for over 27,000
personnel assigned to the Headquarters Air Force Sustainment Center, Oklahoma
City Air Logistics Complex, 552nd Air Control Wing, Navy Strategic
Communications Wing One, 507th Air Refueling Wing, 448th Supply Chain Management
Wing and 45 other associate units including the Defense Logistics Agency,
Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense Finance and Accounting Service and
38th Cyberspace Engineering Installation Group. 

Ruscetta earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Geography from the United
States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, and completed the Aircraft
Maintenance Officer Course from Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas in 1997. 





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In 2003, she got her Master of Science in Logistics Management from the Air
Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB. She also earned her Master
of Science in National Security Strategy from Eisenhower School in Ft McNair,
Washington DC in 2018.



She was made the Second Lieutenant on May 28, 1997. After consecutively being
promoted to First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, she was made
the Colonel on March 1, 2018.

According to the government website, "Ruscetta served on both the Special
Operations Command Staff and the Air Staff and is a fully qualified joint
officer."

Since July 2018, she has been associated with the Tinker Air Force Base, and was
made the commander in July. She is also a recipient of a NATO Medal.


WHAT DID COLONEL RUSCETTA SAY?

Ruscetta highlighted ‘suicide" as a potential cause for many of the deaths. She
reportedly said, "Each and every death, either by suicide or some other means,
is a tragedy."

However, after each death, she said, the team leaders came forward, saying,
"Following each loss of life, leaders from the affected unit engaged with their
people to acknowledge the loss of a valued teammate."

"We offered many avenues of support, including a network of helping agencies,
mental health counselors, chaplains, and Military Family Readiness
professionals," concluded Ruscetta, per KFOR.


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BRYAN RANDALL'S ILNESS AND DEATH


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been grappling with death her long-time partner Bryan Randall. The ace
photographer died after battling ALS for three years on August 5 at the age of
57. Bullock embraced the role of his primary caregiver when he was dealing with
the effects of the condition. Amid the outpouring of celebrity support for
Bullock, her circle of celebrity friends, including Jennifer Aniston, Octavia
Spencer, and Ryan Reynolds, are among the few who have consistently stood by her
side in recent months.

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