USS Thompson (DD-627) - Korean War

Korean War

While in the yard, she received news that North Korean armed forces had invaded South Korea crossing the 38th parallel. Completing her overhaul ahead of schedule, Thompson returned to San Diego on 20 July and began an accelerated and rigorous underway training period which lasted through August and part of September 1950.

On 4 October 1950, Thompson and sister ship Carmick (DD-493) departed San Diego, and arrived at Pearl Harbor five days later. The next day, they got underway for Midway Atoll. Twenty-four hours from their destination, orders directed them to patrol off Wake Island during the meeting of General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry Truman. Thompson remained there overnight, refueling at sea from Guadalupe (AO-32) before proceeding to Japan, arriving at Sasebo on 21 October.

While Thompson and Carmick had steamed across the Pacific, United Nations forces had been rallying after the initial heavy losses and retreats at the hands of the communist armies. Accordingly, the American Eighth Army put heavy pressure on North Korean troops, pushing them towards P'yŏngyang, on the west coast of Korea. This thrust was stretching the Army's supply lanes. To remedy this problem, an operation was mounted to open up the mined port of Chinnampo, some 50 km southwest of P'yŏngyang, at the mouth of the Taedong River.

This required ingenuity and resourcefulness, not least because of a lack of minesweeping craft at the start of operations. Thompson and Carmick, newly arrived in the "Land of the Morning Calm", were detailed to join the makeshift minesweeping organization recently established under Commander Stephen M. Archer. Consisting of Forrest Royal (DD-872), Catamount (LSD-17), Horace A. Bass (APD-124), Pelican (AMS-32), Swallow (AMS-36), and Gull (AMS-16), Japanese LST Q-007, four Republic of Korea minesweepers, and a helicopter from Rochester (CA-124), this task group performed a nearly-impossible feat in slightly over two weeks. Before too long, American ships were bringing in supplies to the advancing Eighth Army. After a week of patrol duties off the newly-swept port escorting logistics ships now able to utilize the channel, Thompson left the bitterly-cold region behind for a week of repairs and resupply at Sasebo.

In early November, however, the entry of Chinese communist forces into the war vastly altered the strategic picture. In the face of heavy onslaughts, United Nations troops retreated. One port which served as an evacuation point was Chinnampo, familiar to Thompson’s men as a result of the minesweeping operation conducted a scant month before.

While United Nations warships conducted bombardments of advancing communist troops, Thompson escorted troopships out of the harbor in dense fog and through treacherous tidal currents to assist in the evacuation. For her part in this action, Thompson received the Navy Unit Commendation.

After replenishment, she served as harbor control vessel at Incheon, Korea. Two days after Christmas, she suddenly received orders to head for Sasebo, where MineRon 1 was to be regrouped. Arriving at the Japanese port on 27 December, she departed on 30 December 1950, in company with Doyle (DMS-34) and Endicott (DMS-35) for minesweeping assignments on the east coast of Korea. There, she spent close to three weeks engaged in clearance sweeps so that support ships could take fire-support stations to assist ground forces ashore.

In late January 1951, after a month in the arduous and cold conditions of that region, Thompson returned to Sasebo for repairs. These included drydocking for work on the hull, and, as a result of the docking period, the availability was extended another three weeks, before she departed for minesweeping operations again in mid-February.

Using Wonsan as a base, she operated to the northward, eventually sweeping Kyoto Wan deep, 60 miles (97 km) south of the Manchurian border. While sweeping off the key railway nexus of Sŏngjin, Thompson ran across a new minefield and cut seven mines as she passed through on her sweep. Later, she operated in the screen for Missouri (BB-63) and Manchester (CL-83), while they operated in that area on shore bombardment duties.

At Chuuron Jang, she herself destroyed two railroad bridges with her pinpoint gunnery. Also during this period, she took part in "junk-busting" operations up and down the coast, being on the lookout for suspicious junks used by communist forces for infiltration and minelaying operations. On one occasion, while underway north of Sŏngjin, she sighted six North Korean junks in a cove. Once again, as at the Normandy "D-day" landings, Thompson’s gunners opened fire with a vengeance and sank all six communist boats.

After a month of such operations, she returned to Sasebo for upkeep. From 1 April 1951 to 3 November, Thompson returned to shell communist defense positions, supply lines, and troop concentrations. On 14 June, however, it was the enemy's turn to hit back. Thompson’s gunners had just completed the destruction of a railroad bridge near Sŏngjin when communist shore batteries opened fire, soon straddling the ship. One shell struck the bridge and knocked out the ship's fire control gear. In retaliation, Thompson’s gunners destroyed one enemy battery and damaged another. With three dead and three wounded, Thompson retired.

On 3 November 1951, Thompson departed from Korean waters, homeward bound. She steamed into San Diego Bay on 20 November and thence proceeded to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for overhaul. After post-repair trials, she conducted operations on the west coast and underwent a restricted availability at Long Beach, California. Thompson spent the remainder of 1951 and the first part of 1952 in continental United States waters before departing San Diego on 23 June 1952.

Arriving at Pearl Harbor six days later, she continued on to Yokosuka, where she arrived on 18 July. After a short availability alongside destroyer tender Frontier (AD-25), Thompson proceeded to Sŏngjin, arriving off that port on 11 August 1952.

In contrast to her earlier Korean tours, when her minesweeping duties were intermingled with destroyer-type operations, Thompson was now free to operate as a destroyer for coast patrol and gunfire support duties. Sweeping was now done by AMs and AMSs and was all done at night.

The communists, too, had changed tactics. More guns were brought in to defend the coasts, while enemy accuracy had improved as well. On 20 August 1952, once more off Sŏngjin, Thompson was taken under fire by a Chinese battery. A shell hit the flying bridge, killing four and wounding nine. Thompson attempted to return the fire, but the excellently-concealed shore guns made the return shelling's accuracy difficult and ineffective. Retiring from the scene, the stricken Thompson transferred her casualties to Iowa (BB-61), then operating 16 miles (30 km) south of Sŏngjin.

Five days later, the minesweeper arrived at Sasebo on 26 August for tender availability, repairing her engines and battle damage, before she headed north to Sŏngjin. She remained off this unlucky port from 13 September to 12 October 1952, occasionally patrolling to the northernmost extremity of the United Nations blockade before again returning to Sasebo.

From 3 November to 1 December 1952, Thompson operated in Wonsan harbor, as part of the United Nations blockade forces there. As such, she was in range of communist guns on many occasions. The object of enemy fire at least four times, Thompson received damage for the third time when straddled on 20 November 1952, while acting as gunfire support ship for Kite (AMS-22) which was conducting a sweep of the inner harbor. From three widely-spaced points enemy guns took the minesweepers under fire, catching Thompson amidships on the starboard side as she was laying clouds of oily black smoke between Kite and the shoreline.

Returning to Yokosuka for repairs to the battle damage, Thompson spent Christmas in that Japanese naval port. New Year's, however, once again found the fast minesweeper at Sŏngjin. After two more tours there, into February 1953, Thompson headed back to the United States in company with Carmick. With refueling stops at Midway and Pearl Harbor, she finally arrived at San Diego on 14 March 1953.