WORK OF ALLIED SMALL SHIPS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26671, 4 March 1952, Page 7

WORK OF ALLIED SMALL SHIPS

“Success In War Of Blockade” LONDON, March 2. The Admiralty said to-day that the small ships of the Allied naval forces in Korean waters, by preventing the Communists supplying their forces by sea, have “tipped the balance between defeat and victory in Korea." The Admiralty issued a report from a Far Eastern observer who declared that the importance of daily routine patrols by the destroyers and frigates of the British, New Zealand, Australian, and Catiadiah navies had not been generally appreciated. The observer’s report assessed the part played by the smaller British Commonwealth ships ffi 18 months in Korea it said that the Korean war had proved a war of blockade, a seaman’s war of the traditional pattern. The Commonwealth ships were responsible for the whole west coast of Korea and American ships for the east coast. The main tasks of the two forces were to deny sea communications to the enemy, harass troops and supplies in the coastal regions, support friendly guerrilla operations, escort Allied supplies and aircraft carriers engaged in offensive operations and defend the islands on the north of the 38th

parallel. “The degrees of success can be judged from the Cottimutiist reactions, said the repbrt. “At no time have they been able or recently even attempted to supply their forces by sea." The Commonwealth force in the Far East from which small ships have drawn has generally amounted to not less than 24 destroyers and frigates. This has been in addition to aircraft carriers, an aircraft maintenance ship, cruisers, and minesweepers in the Far East.