Manchester (CL 83) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 109 text:

FAMILIAR AT WONSAN Left: Alongside, one of the South K whose efforts in Wonsan harbor m ible lor the firing shrps to move Some- times, when they had to work close to the heach. they were shot at . . . then went I r more Right: Periodically aircraft came in from Task Force 77 to conduct air strikes on transportation targets be- hind Wonsan. As long as they were in the area. CIC maintained voice radio contact. One of these F4U pilots used himself as a decoy amid fire from hidden enemy AA emplacements while his wingman observed their flashes and destroyed the source. ♦ Left: There was snow m Woi But R not look forward to inclemei I t The siege never paused.

Page 108 text:

By the beginning of March, Wonsan was taking a beating. The siege ships saw to it that a shell was exploding somewhere in the city every minute of every day and night. Our gunners were becoming more accurate by the hour, and to make Communist matters worse, we were coming to know Wonsan as well as our own home towns. Manchester helicopter spotters told us our bursts were walking all over rail and highway arteries and junctions. We had registered direct hits on bridges, a power station and transformers, a barracks containing over 100 troops, AA batteries, warehouses . . . and one evening we plastered a true 1 caravan cautiously moving down a highway. In distance, a fuel dump that was hit on March 2nd and burned all night. In center is small island ot Hwangt ' o Do.

Page 110 text:

At dusk on March 2nd, we drew alongside the cargo ship Polaris to take aboard fresh provisions and bags of stateside mail. Suddenly, at our most vulnerable moment, and with many of us working topside, enemy shore batteries opened up from three directions. In little over five minutes, we had singled up our lines to the Polaris, manned our battle stations, and were shooting back with everything we had. Fifteen minutes later, we continued taking aboard provisions and that valuable stateside mail