Steaming off the North Korean east-coast port of Hungnam last week, her 5-in. guns blasting at enemy installations, the U.S. destroyer Ernest G. Small (2,400 tons) hit a mine. Holed below the waterline in a forward compartment, the Small made Kure, Japan, under her own power, but eight of her crew were dead, 18 injured. She was the eighth U.S. Navy vessel to strike a Communist mine. Mines, cheap to lay, hard to find and hazardous to hit, are the real peril of the Korean seas. Communists lay them at night from...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
