The Battle of Korea Strait was a single ship action fought on the first day of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, 25–26 June 1950, between the navies of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. A North Korean troop transport carrying hundreds of soldiers attempted to land its invasion force near

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

but was encountered by a South Korean

patrol ship A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

and sunk. It was one of the first surface actions of the war and resulted in an important South Korean victory.

Battle

The Korean War began on 25 June 1950 with a massive North Korean invasion of South Korea which nearly overran the country. During the invasion, a North Korean steamer was assigned to insert troops along the peninsula's southeastern coast. The merchant ship of 1,000 tons was armed with machine guns and loaded with 600 soldiers of the 766th Independent Infantry Regiment. It was early morning when the

Republic of Korea Navy The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN; ), also known as the ROK Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, South Korean armed forces, responsible for naval and Amphibious warfare, amphibious operations. The South ...

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a type of small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. They encompass designs that are now largely obsolete, but which played an important role in the wars of the first half of th ...

ROKS ''Pak Tu San'' spotted the lone enemy steamer eighteen miles from Busan. The chaser, also formerly American, was the lead vessel of the South Korean Navy. ''Bak Du San'' first challenged the steamer with signal lights and received no response. But when the South Koreans turned on their searchlights, the North Koreans opened fire, hitting the ''Bak Du San''s bridge. The

helmsman A helmsman or helm (sometimes driver or steersman) is a person who steering, steers a ship, sailboat, submarine, other type of maritime vessel, airship, or spacecraft. The rank and seniority of the helmsman may vary: on small vessels such as fis ...

was killed and the officer of the deck seriously wounded. ''Bak Du San'' returned fire with her main 3-inch

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

and six .50-caliber machine guns. After the North Koreans began taking hits, they attempted to flee the engagement, but were chased by the ''Bak Du San'' in a running battle that ended with the steamer being sunk near Tsushima Island, with heavy loss of life. The victory was a major strategic gain. Busan was vital but only lightly defended, and if it had fallen the North Koreans would have been one step closer to completely overrunning the country.

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References

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017

Korea Strait The Korea Strait is a strait, sea passage in East Asia between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It connects the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The strait is split by Tsushima Island into two par ...

June 1950 in Asia

Battles and operations of the Korean War in 1950 Battles of the Korean War involving South Korea Battles of the Korean War involving North Korea Naval battles involving North Korea

Battle

See also

Notes

References