29 EMPIRE WARSHIPS IN KOREAN WAR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23343, 28 August 1950, Page 5

29 EMPIRE WARSHIPS IN KOREAN WAR

LONDON, August 25

The British Commonwealth navies now have 10,000 men serving in the Far East, about 7000 of them in Korean waters, the British Admiralty announced tonight.

The 22 British warships which were in Far Eastern waters when _the Korean operations began have since been joined by three Canadian, two Australian and two New Zealand warships making total British Commonwealth naval striking force of 29 ships. The Commonwealth navies, as partners with the navies of other nations under overall American command, had carried out 38 bombardments, the Admiralty said.

"On some occasions only a few rounds have been fired at opportunity targets. On others, hundreds of rounds have been poured into objectives, .including troop concentrations, factories, bridges, shipping, oil tanks, supply dumps, barracks, warehouses and gun emplacements.”

Crews At Wartime Strength

In some cases, the Commonwealth ships have covered amphibious landings, the Admiralty added. Their fire has also been directed at cliff roads causing landslides to hold up the enemy advance.

The Admiralty said that when naval operations began in Korea, complements of the British warships were only at peacetime strength or four-fifths of the wartime complements. “For prolonged operations such as those now proceeding, the warships cannot be operated with full efficiency unless their crews are brought to wartime strength. Reinforcements have, therefore, been sent to bring ships up to their full wartime complements," the statement said.

Referring to the addition of Australian. Canadian and New Zealand units, the Admiralty said: “The contributions of these Commonwealth navies are substantial in relation to the size of their peacetime fleets. Already the Royal Australian Navy has sent a destroyer and a frigate to Korean waters, the Royal Canadian Navy three destroyers, and the Royal New Zealand Navy two frigates."