"Shore Batteries under Fire" White phosphorus shells bursting during a bombardment by USS Manchester (CL-83) of enemy artillery emplacements on the Kalma Gak peninsula, near Wonsan, North Korea, circa 4 May 1951.Photograph was released by Commander, Naval Forces Far East, under date of 4 May 1951. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the "All Hands" collection at the Naval Historical Center.

set up so that the tank could fire through 'gunports' located at the very base of the hill. The tank itself was never exposed, but was moved forward until the gun barrel protruded from the port. Another tank often came around the north end of 'Sugar Loaf' to fire, but beat a hasty retreat whenever it was taken under fire.
"In the latter part of 1951, four rail-mounted guns appeared in the bay. Three of these were north of the city, not far from the beach. These, too, were retractable into caves.
"As far as I could determine from the refugees who fled to the islands from Wonsan, all of the harbor defense guns were North Korean manned. It is doubtful that the Chinese manned any of the guns. North. Korean Army units manned most of the harbor guns except the Hodo Pando batteries, which were manned by a North Korean Navy unit.
"In regard to their control procedures, they zeroed-in certain positions where they were most apt to catch a ship with little maneuvering room. In many of the firing positions, the Communists hacked a circular groove in the hard-packed ground, into which the 'wheels of the gun carriage fitted snugly. Around this circular track various points were marked to zero-in selected points with rapidity. The Red gun crews learned to work as teams, and even developed a definite plan of coordination between the widely spaced batteries. Spotting stations equipped with plotting boards were established and splash information was passed by telephone to a fire control station. The fire control station would calculate corrections and phone them to the batteries. The Reds had no automatic machines or computers, but nonetheless they became fast and accurate. They also reported ships sunk from time to time. One destroyer was reported sunk three times, and when it appeared the fourth time in the bay, they claimed we had changed the numbers on a new ship.
"The presence of our siege ships and minesweepers inside the harbor was definitely a severe irritant and worry for the Communists. During the first year of the siege of Wonsan, there were four occasions when the Reds believed a landing was imminent. These scares usually followed a maximum air strike by Task Force 77 or a heavy bombardment by a battleship, or a combination of the two. They were kept continually on their toes and never dared to leave the harbor lightly defended."
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The increase of enemy gunfire resulted in six ships being hit in July: Everett (PF-8); LSMR-409; LSMR-525; O'Brien (DT)-725): LSMR-412; and Helena (CA-75). In August, the siege ships were untouched. In September, two were hit: William Seiveiling (DE-411), and Heron (AMS-18).

* O'Brien- LTJG Fred K. Cheek, close friend went ashore with Fred many times in San Diego arid Sasebo, Japan. Commanding Officer was Chester Nimitz Jr. (U.S. Naval Academy) was a friend through Fred Cheek (From Michigan)

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