Manchester (CL 83) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 118 text:

KALMA GAK SCORES . . . After a month, the city of Wonsan, once called the Chicago of Korea, was sinking into lifelessness. Periodically, groups of people had been seen from the air waving white flags of surrender . . . They wanted no more. But Communist troops were still trying to get through, and the gunners on Raima Gak were still striking out at us. le day, ROK minesweeper 510 was brought under fire of 76 mm guns from the peninsula. Her single 40 mm lashed back, but was no match for the well-protected emplacement. With two dead and eight wounded, the 510 finally made for the Manchester. The flag flying at her yardarm told us she needed medical assistance, and our sickbay prepared for action . . .

Page 117 text:

A WONSAN JACKPOT At 1 100 on March 15th, the 27th day of Wonsan s siege, the Manchester and destroyers of Task Element 95.21 executed a strategy that proved disastrous to two Chinese Communist divisions. One day our air spotters had been observing activity in a barracks near Wonsan. Shortly after, two more areas turned up with troops milling about in and out of the buildings. Aboard the Manchester, these areas were plotted on charts, and later each ship was assigned a sector. During the observation period Admiral Smith care- fully instructed the Task Element to keep their fire away from these barracks to prevent scattering of the troops. When every gun on every ship opened up in rapid fire simultaneously, the troops were caught in a hopeless trap. It took us only eight minutes. The result: 6,000 Communist troops -dead or wounded.

Page 119 text:

The greatest toll was taken when .1 •. ! ■ passed mt .1 living compartment and exploded. Another burst on the open bridge, killing the 510 ' s skipper instantly (right).