16. Minesweepers Blow up at Wonson Harbor - Page 1

The beaches around Wonson have a moderate gradient, and the floor at the water's edge consist of hard-packed sand. The transports at Inchon to transport the Marines to Wonson ran behind schedule with the result that the D-Day landing at Wonson got moved back to a 20 Oct. date. Meanwhile troops of the I ROK Corps (6th ROK Division) rapidly advanced and captured the port of Wonson without a shot being fired before the Marines arrived. The landing at Wonson became delayed due to mines in the harbor. Minesweeping commenced on 8 October. Russian instructors had trained Korean Reds in the laying of some 2,000 mines in the harbor.

Three large fleet sweepers, Pledge, Pirate and Incredible were not well adapted to the shallow sweeping task. Seven small wooden-hulled sweepers were added to the fleet in addition to nine Japanese and three ROK sweepers. On the 12th both the Pledge and Pirate sank, blown up by mines.   On to Minesweepers Page 2