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Brief
History of the RAN in The Korean War Continued
Above:
Gun Crew in action HMAS Bataan
Three
more ships were committed, the new carrier HMAS Sydney, and the destroyers
'Anzac' and 'Tobruk' were allotted.. Sydney arrived in the area in
September and relieved HMS Glory, and the following month began patrols
of the west coast. Her aircraft consisted of Sea-Furies of 805 and
808 Squadrons and fireflies of 817 Squadron which began flying ops
on 5 October.
The
first weeks saw HMAS Sydney launching air strikes on the east and
west coasts, mostly against troop concentrations and railways. Three
aircraft were shot down but all pilots were rescued. On 5 November
a Sea fury was shot down and the pilot killed. Later in the month
HMA Ships Sydney and Tobruk took part in attacks off the east coast,
returning to the west coast in December. On 7 December Sydney's second
death occurred with the loss of a Sea-Fury and its pilot due to AA
fire. On 2 January another Sea-Fury and pilot failed to return.
HMAS
Sydney returned to Australia in February 1952 and HMA Ships Bataan
and Warramunga (not ANZAC as some official history records show- Thanks
to Tom Hamilton a Warramunga Korean Veteran) returned to Korea
to continue coastal blockades and shore bombardments until the wars
end. Tobruk joined them in June 1953, followed by the frigate Condamine
two months later. Finally the frigate Culgoa arrived for duty in April
1953 and Condamine returned home.
Warramunga in action Chinnampo, Korea, July
1952.
(this one is for you Tom Hamilton)
The
uneasy 'peace' following the end of hostilities on 27 July 1953 made
it easy for the Allies to maintain a peace keeping force in Korea.
HMA Ships Sydney, Tobruk, Arunta, Condamine, Shoalhaven and Murchison
all did post war duty for varying periods until November 1955. The
Korean war had cost the R.A.N. three pilots killed and one wounded
from Sydney, three sailors wounded in action in Murchison and one
each from Bataan and Condamine, Sydney's aircraft flew 2366 sorties,
dropped 410,000 lbs of bombs and fired 6359 Rockets plus 270,000 rounds
of 20mm ammunition.
The destroyers and frigates fired more than 25,000 rounds from their
main armament and more than 60,000 rounds of 40mm and two pounder
ammunition.
A
total of 311 officers and 4196 men of the R.A.N. served in operations
in Korea. Sixty six of them were decorated as follows: CBE 1, DSO
2, OBE 3, MBE 3, DSC 11, Bar to DSC 2, 2nd Bar to DSC 1, DSM 3, BEM
4, MID 36.
Korea
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