History of the Korean Air War
Naval Aviation in the Korean War
The U.S. Navy was in the Korean War from practically the opening shot, and the war concluded with Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy, USN, directing the peace negotiations in the name of the United Nations. Naval aviation was not long getting into the fight—nine days to be exact. On the last day of hostilities, July 27, 1953, four attack carriers with 21 squadrons among them were hammering away at the enemy. During the three years that the U.S. Navy operated in the Korean theatre the versatility, competence, and lethal quality of its air arm was demonstrated most convincingly.
Introduction to the Online Edition of History of United States Naval Operations: Korea
The Korean War was a watershed in the 20th century history of the United States Navy. During that conflict and for the next fifty years, U.S. naval forces conducted operations that maintained control of the world’s oceans and brought sea power to bear against enemies ashore. Freed by friendly control of the sea from the threat of hostile fleets, American carrier squadrons, shore bombardment ships, and amphibious units engaged North Korean and Chinese Communist forces on the Korean peninsula. Navy and Marine Corps aviation units executed the majority of UN close air support missions in the war, shot down numerous Communist MIG aircraft, and disrupted the enemy’s resupply and reinforcement efforts. Fleet amphibious forces turned the tide of battle in 1950 at Inchon and threatened the enemy’s vulnerable coastal flanks for the rest of the war. The Seventh Fleet ensured that American ground forces got the men and supplies they needed to fight and win far from American shores. The Korean War experience helped the Navy fight more effectively during the later conflict in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
The Korean War was also America’s first “limited war” of the modern age. Naval leaders had to learn how to carry on the battle when all-out victory was not the national objective, constrain their use of naval power, and maintain the morale and fighting strength of their sailors year after bloody year. The men who led the fleet gained valuable insight into the political-military (“talk-fight”) approach followed by their Communist Cold War adversaries. Sailors of all ranks came to understand that the worldwide effort to help threatened peoples defend their freedom against Marxist-Leninist attack would be long, often frustrating, and costly.