Battle of Chumonchin Chan | |||||||
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Part of the Korean War | |||||||
Torpedo boat No.21 on display at the Museum of Victory of the Fatherland Liberation War, Pyongyang. According to North Korean propaganda, this boat received credit for sinking the USS Baltimore, despite USS Baltimore was not deployed to Korean waters during the war. |
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Belligerents | |||||||
United Nations: |
North Korea |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Jesse D. Sowell | unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2 cruisers 1 frigate |
4 torpedo boats 2 gunboats 10 ammunition ships |
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
None | Unknown human casualties, 3 torpedo boats sunk |
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The Battle of Chumonchin Chan or the Action of 2 July 1950 was the only major battle fought between surface combatants during the main phase of the Korean War. It began after an Allied flotilla encountered a Korean People's Navy supply fleet.
On 2 July 1950, the USS Juneau, HMS Black Swan, and HMS Jamaica were sailing along the coast of the Sea of Japan (East Sea) when they encountered four North Korean torpedo and gunboats that had just finished escorting a flotilla of ten ammunition ships up the coast. The North Korean torpedo boats decided to make good of the situation and began an attack run on the allied ships. Before their torpedoes could be fired however, they were met with a salvo of gunfire from the UN ships which destroyed three of the torpedo boats. The surviving North Korean craft fled, but later in July the Juneau encountered the same ammunition ships and destroyed them.
http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/korea/navalbattles.htm