Some 75 years ago this week, in February 1951, the 600-man, all-volunteer Belgian-Luxembourgish battalion landed in Pusan, South Korea, and, after marrying up with their equipment, held their first formation before joining the British Commonwealth 29th Infantry Brigade, fleshed out with a company-sized formation of South Korean augmentees.
The flags of Belgium and Luxembourg fly for the first time in Korea.
On 13 September 1950, the Belgian Government offered a battalion as a contribution to the United Nations effort to fight aggression in Korea.
As the country’s standing forces– which all included conscripts– could not deploy overseas in line with government policy, a call went out for volunteers, of which more than 2,000 regulars submitted packets. Following a selection process and a special training period of three months, the unit shipped out for the Pacific from Antwerp via Singapore, bolstered by 43 officers and men from Luxembourg who formed 1st Platoon, A Company.
Luxembourgish soldier in Korea
This picture shows the Luxembourg Army flag.
The unit was originally formed along British lines, complete with DPM camo smocks and No.4 Enfield .303 rifles. They shipped out to Korea with a new design dark brown beret and a new cap badge, which would be a hallmark of their battalion.
Belgian Battalion Korea soldier cleaning No 4 Enfield rifle 1951 UN 191459
Luxembourg soldiers, Belgian B,n Korea Feb 1951 UN7668158
The Belgian Battalion commander was Colonel Albert Crahay, 48, a regular who graduated from the Royal Military Academy (the École Militaire) in 1923 and, having been captured during the German invasion of his country in 1940, spent five long years as a POW. Crahay left his position at the academy to command the battalion, while his XO, Major Henri Moreau de Melen, resigned as Minister of War for the chance to go to Korea.
Here, at a parade, the commandant, Lt. Colonel Albert Crahay, of Brussels, receives a report from a company commander. The white-haired officer at left is Major Moreau de Melen, who resigned as Minister of War to come to Korea. 1 February 1951, UN7668160
The battalion experienced its first casualties on 18 March 1951 when Lt. Pierre Beauprez, at the time leading a patrol with American soldiers on the southern bank of the Han River, was killed by a Chinese land mine. In WWII, he had served in 4 Belgian troop of No 10 (Inter Allied) Commando.
Hungry for combat, they fought alongside the 1st Gloucestershire Regiment at the Battle of the Imjin River in April 1951. For their actions, the Belgians were awarded a U.S. Presidential Unit Citation. Lt. Col. Crahay, seriously wounded in the battle, picked up a DSC, while de Melen earned a Legion of Honor.
From Crahay’s citation:
Upon receiving orders to withdraw on the night of 23 April 1951, Colonel Crahay, realizing that all planned routes of withdrawal were unfeasible, daringly seized upon a momentary lull in the battle and organized, regrouped, and effected a spectacular lateral withdrawal across the Imjin River. After an arduous, circuitous march, his command rejoined the brigade the following day and was committed to cover the displacement of two battalions along the enemy-infested main supply route. He was seriously wounded while directing and coordinating this stubbornly contested action, but his incredible courage under fire and his intrepid actions inspired his officers and men to fight with unwavering persistency, which contributed significantly to stemming the relentless advance of the numerically superior foe.
Henry Huss, commander of C Company, 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, during the Battle of the Imjin River. Lt. Col. Crahay and Major de Melen are seen with their Lion-badged brown berets.
Chopped to the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division’s 7th Infantry Regiment and later the 15th Regiment, post-Imjin, the Belgians received several citations for their actions at Haktang-Ni in October 1951, and along the “Iron Triangle,” and in the Battle of Chatkol in April 1953, including both U.S. and South Korean citations.
This saw them slowly morph into more supportable U.S. gear, including uniforms, M1 helmets, M1 Garands/Carbines, and .30-06 caliber machine guns.
Belgian Battalion Korea
Belgian Battalion Korea
Belgian Battalion Korea during its period with the 15th Infantry Regiment, whose motto was “Can do.”
A Belgian Battalion jeep, complete with KATUSA, circa 1952. Note the combination of Belgian lion berets and 3rd Infantry Division “broken television” patches.
Post 1953, they were one of the first Belgian line units to receive the new SAFN 49 rifles.
The last Belgian troops remained in Korea until June 1955, with the battalion rotating out several times. A total of 3,172 Belgians participated in the Korean War. Some 700 pulled two tours, and 19 very hardy souls elected to draw a third.
The Belgian Battalion lost 106 troops killed in action, along with two Luxembourgers, and 9 assigned South Korean soldiers. Another 478 of its members and 17 Luxembourgers were wounded during the war. Five Belgians are still listed as MIA, while one was captured by the Chinese and repatriated post-armistice.
As for Lt. Col. Crahay, he later went on to command the Belgian 16th Armored Division and, by 1960, was commander of all Belgian Forces in Germany. He retired in 1964 as a Lieutenant-General and was made a Baron in 1983. He passed away in 1991, aged 88.
Today, the Belgian Para-Commando Brigade and the 3rd Parachute Bn (3 Bataljon Parachutisten), retain a dark brown Parachute Qualification Brevet in a salute to the brown berets made iconic in Korea, paid for with the blood of lions.
Our SHOT Show 2026 visit with Zastava Arms includes the possible import of the legendary M84 PKM, surplus Yugoslav police pistols, and more.
Zastava M84 PKM
Introduced in 1984, the gun was heavily used in both the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s and globally. Zastava plans to import a semi-auto sporter version to the U.S. with ATF approval pending, while still maintaining its original aesthetics.
Known as “Ceca” after the famous (infamous?) Serbian singer, due to its distinctive sound, the M85 features a heavier, easily replaceable barrel than the Russian PKM. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Some 46 inches long, it weighs 19 pounds, and is chambered in 7.62x54R. Goofy GDC guy not included.
Some 400 of these, formerly issued to police units, have been imported and approved by ATF without the slide safety often seen in such guns, replaced instead with a trigger-mounted tabbed safety.
These have been factory refurbished with the original accessories and will be offered for around $400.
And retain the original Yugoslav crest.
M85 in .300 Blackout
We just love the ZPAP M85, a 5.56 NATO caliber Yugo pattern AK, in both its carbine and pistol variants, and have reviewed it in a few different flavors.
The big news from SHOT is that the M85 is coming in .300 BLK, including a gas system that has been tweaked to run better while suppressed.
Zastava is developing a 300 Blackout rifle on the ZPAP 85 platform that is billed as working well with the ZVUK suppressor.
More Surplus parts in more places
Zastava is importing AB2 and AB1 part kits and rifles, including trench art-marked M70s.
The guns that the company had on display were striking as battlefield relics and showed some of the interesting possibilities available to collectors.
The kits have seen a variety of hard use, sometimes including very authentic “battlefield pickup” finish and trench art.
Look at the ersatz optics rail on this one.
Other items on the schedule for 2026 are a 16-inch barreled ZPAP M90 variant, something customers have been asking for.
Hawker Hunter FGA.9 SN XG256 of No 8 Squadron, RAF, armed with sixteen 20-pound rockets and four 30mm Aden cannons, is seen on a sortie in support of Radforce during operations in the Radfan region, Saudi Arabia, June 1964, during the Aden Emergency.
IWM RAF-T 4624
And of the same type but a different aircraft and squadron in the same conflict.
A Hawker Hunter FGA.9 of No 43 Squadron based at RAF Khomaksar, Aden, fires a salvo of 60-pound rockets at an enemy position during operations in the Radfan region of the Federation of South Arabia, now Yemen. IWM (RAF-T 4617)
In Aden, isolated British Army SAS units working against insurgents in the mountains would routinely call in air strikes that required considerable precision, and, predominantly using high-explosive rockets and 30mm cannon, the Hunter proved an able ground-attack platform.
Members of the SAS in the Radfan region in a Pink Panther land rover, 1965. From a collection of photographs assembled for use in Col Robin McNish’s ‘Iron Division – The History of the 3rd Division’, 1918-1977. National Army Museum, London NAM. 2007-12-6-148
Both No. 8 and No. 43 squadrons continued operations with their Hunters in the region until London withdrew from Aden in November 1967.
The transonic swept-wing Hunter first flew in 1951 and replaced the first-generation Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Venom in British service. With nearly 2,000 made across something like 70 versions when export series aircraft are included, it was a backbone of the RAF and allied service for decades, only being fully replaced in training and secondary roles in British service in the early 1990s. Ironically, some of the first sorties of Desert Storm, some 35 years ago this month, were to take out still-capable Iraqi FGA.59 Hunters on the ground.
As for No. 8 Sqn, founded in 1915, they are the first RAF unit to operate the E-7 Wedgetail and are currently based at RAF Lossiemouth. However, the Fighting Cocks of 43 Squadron, formed in 1916, disbanded in 2009 as part of the Government’s force reductions, though their legacy endures.
Some 70 years ago this week, a great recruiting poster-worthy image from the port of Oran, French Algeria, showing bluejackets at leisure across from the Dutch cruiser Hr.Ms. De Zeven Provinciën (C 802), while this week’s Warship Wednesday subject, the torpedobootjager Hr.Ms. Evertsen (D 802)takes up the rear, late January 1956, while Dutch Oefensmaldeel (Training Squadron) 5 was on its Med cruise.
Centrum voor Audiovisuele Dienstverlening Koninklijke Marine. NIMH Objectnummer 2009-002-063_003
DZP, a 12,000-ton light cruiser, was laid down before WWII, but, with her construction on hold during German occupation, only commissioned in 1953.
Dutch cruisers HNLMS De Ruyter and HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën, leading a Dutch squadron of frigates and submarines
They were later converted to a CLG equipped with Terrier missiles that replaced her rear 6″/53 Bofors turrets.
Capping 23 years with the Royal Netherlands Navy, she was sold to Peru, where she served as Aguirre until 1999, one of the last large-gunned cruisers in commission.
To give new and returning GIs a taste of what they could expect in the often-vicious house-to-house and hamlet-to-hamlet struggle that units had experienced in the first stages of the war in Korea, a “Combat Village” was constructed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
These images are from some 75 years ago this month, January, 1951.
A squad from Company B, 83rd Engrs., Fort Sill, Okla., closes in on a house at the newly-opened Combat Village. 17 January, 1951. Photographer: Sgt. R.R. McGaffin. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364247
Through billowing smoke, three men from Company B, 83rd Engr. Bn., Fort Sill, Okla., push on toward the next house in realistic training at Fort Sill’s Combat Village. 17 January, 1951. L-R they are: Pvt. Virgil Burns, Pvt. Jim McDermott and Pvt. Bill Young, all of Omaha, Neb. Photographer: Sgt. R.R. McGaffin, 4th Det., 4050th ASU TAC. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364249
Pvt. Glen Hauer signals men behind him to hold up as they close in on a house at Combat Village. The men on the left are: Pvt. John Salsberry, Leavenworth, Kan., and Pvt. Donald Pickering, Abilene, Kan. All are with Company B, 83rd Engr. Bn., Fort Sill, Okla. 17 January, 1951. Photographer: Sgt. R.R. McGaffin. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364248
A .50 caliber machine gun crew from the 46th Engr. Const. Bn. at Fort Sil, Okla., prepares to open up on an approaching enemy tank during a realistic training problem on the Fort Sill range. Pointing out the enemy is Pfc. Delbert Nelson, Dallas, Texas, to Pvt. Charlie Shanks, Big Spring, Texas, and Pvt. J.C. Bauer, Houston, Texas. The gun fired blank ammunition to add realism to the training. 3 January, 1951. Photographer: Sgt. J.D. Hall, 4th Det. 4050th ASU TAC. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364245
Sgt. Charles H. Hague, Boerne, Texas, marches an “aggressor” prisoner back to the command post for interrogation during field maneuvers of the 46th Engr. Const. Bn. at Fort Sill, Okla. The prisoner is Pvt. Willie Martinez, of Los Alamos, N.M. Hague is with “B” Company of the 46th. Martinez is with “A” Company. 3 January, 1951. Photographer: Sgt. John D. Hall. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364246
Ironically, following the blunting of the Chinese spring offensive in 1951, the war in Korea became very static, one of trenches and hills, resembling more the combat of the Great War, and required totally different tactics than those imparted at the Combat Village.
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Warship Wednesday 28 January 2026: Juliana’s Enforcer
U.S. Navy photo 80-G-708163
Above we see the Dutch S (Saumarez/Savage)-class destroyer Hr.Ms. Evertsen (D 802) at Yokosuka some 75 years ago this month, in January 1951, while deployed with the UN Blockading and Escort Force off Korea.
She had been ordered under a different name by the British some 10 years prior, in January 1941, for a very different war, and gave good account not only in the Atlantic against the Germans but would also draw blood in a third conflict in 1962– oddly enough against a German-built warship.
The S-class
The 16 wartime British “S” & “T” class destroyers were long ships (363 feet) but thin (just 35 feet), giving them a 10:1 length-to-beam ratio, making them a knife on the water.
Tipping the scales at just 2,500~ tons, they were slender stilettos made for stabbing through the waves at nearly 36 knots on a pair of Parsons geared turbines generating 40,000 shp. Armed with a quartet of shielded 4.7-inch QF Mk IX guns for surface actions, U-boat busting depth charges, and two four-packs of anti-ship torpedo tubes along with a mixed battery of AAA guns, they were ready for a fight.
Class leader HMS Saumarez (G12) was completed in July 1943, right in time for the crucial part of the Battle of the Atlantic, and the 15 ships that followed her were made ready to go into harm’s way as soon as they could leave the builders’ yards. The class proved so successful that the design was essentially reused for the only incrementally improved “U” & “V” and “W” & “Z” destroyer classes, a further 32 greyhounds.
Saumarez would cover herself in glory, being instrumental in the sinking of both the German battleship Scharnhorst and the Japanese cruiser Haguro.
Beam view, HMS Saumarez (G12). IWM A 18404
Another S-class, HMS Success, was transferred on completion to the Free Norwegian forces on 26 August 1943 as KNM Stord (G26), and soon got to chasing the Germans, helping scrap with Scharnhorst just four months after transfer. A third, HMS Shark, while serving as KNM Svenner, was lost on D-Day off Sword Beach by torpedoes from a German S-boat. A fourth, HMS Swift (G46), was sunk by a mine off Sword on 24 June 1944.
But we are getting slightly ahead of ourselves.
Meet Scourge
Our subject was ordered from Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, on 9 January 1941 as Yard No 1095, the future HMS Scourge (G01). Laid down on 26 June 1941– the same week the Axis invaded the Soviet Union– she would be constructed at the yard alongside wartime sisters HMS Scorpion, Teazer, and Tenacious, as well as near-sisters Ulysses and Undaunted.
Christened 8 December 1942, she was the 10th (and, sadly, the last) to carry the splendid name of Scourge in the Royal Navy, going back to a 14-gun brig-sloop launched in 1779. Notably, the eighth Scourge, a Beagle-class destroyer, landed ANZACs at Gallipoli. This allowed our final Scourge to begin life carrying the past battle honors Crimea 1855, and Dardanelles 1914-15.
Adopted by the civil community of Bexhill, East Sussex, who held a “warship week” to raise money for her completion, HMS Scourge was commissioned on 14 July 1943, LCDR George Ian Mackintosh Balfour, RN, in command. A regular who earned his sub-lieutenant stripe in 1932, Mackintosh Balfour had seen much of the war already, having commanded the destroyers HMS Decoy (H 75) and HMS Tuscan (R 56).
As completed, beside her main and torpedo batteries, she carried a twin 40/56 Bofors Mk VIII and four twin 20/70 Oerlikon Mk IIs for AAA defense, as well as four depth charge throwers and two racks with room for as many as 130 “ash cans” for ASW. Her sensor suite included Type 271, 285, and 291 radars, as well as Type 144 sonar.
HMS Scourge (G01) S-class destroyer 12 October 1943. Note the great layout view of her twin quad torpedo turnstiles and four 4.7/45 guns. IWM A 19638
HMS Scourge (G01) S-class destroyer 12 October 1943. IWM A 19639
A very clean HMS Scourge (G01) S-class destroyer, undated, likely soon after delivery. Photo by Stewart Bale Ltd, Liverpool IWM FL 18828.
Getting into the war!
Her construction was drawn out nearly three years due to the late delivery of armament and fire-control equipment.
Scourgebegan her shakedown with the 23rd Destroyer Flotilla just in time to take part in Convoy TA 58 (Operation Quadrant), whose primary mission was to zip HMT Queen Mary, with Churchill aboard, to the Quebec Conference in August 1943.
By 20 October 1943, she took part in Operation FR, the movement of 10 wooden-hulled American Admirable-class minesweepers and SC-class submarine chasers for Lend Lease to the Soviet Navy from Iceland to the windswept Kola Peninsula in Northern Russia.
Scourge then picked up Convoy RA 054A, her first of a dozen such runs between Archangel/Murmansk and Britain and back. Often traveling in conjunction with her sisters, she braved the harsh Barents Sea weather, U-boat attacks, a near brush with Scharnhorst, and long-ranging German Condor aircraft.
Taking a break from her convoy work after her initial five runs (besides RA 054A, she was on JW 054B, JW 055B, JW 056B, and RA 056), Scourge was nominated to join the great Neptune flotillas for the Overlord (D-Day) landings in Normandy.
On hand with the Sword Bombardment Group, she fell in with the battleships HMS Ramillies and Warspite, the heavy cruiser Frobisher, the light cruisers Arethusa, Danae, Mauritius, and Dragon (Polish), and 13 destroyers, including sisters Saumarez, Scorpion, Serapis, Stord, Svenner, and Swift. Scourge lent her guns to the cacophony on 6 June 1944 and continued to defend the beachhead as the fight moved inshore.
Just days later, Scourge joined with near-sister HMS Urania and the K-class destroyer HMS Kelvin to escort first Churchill and later King George VI himself, then aboard Arethusa, to Sword. Keep in mind that the control of the Channel was still very much in question at the time, with German U-boats below and S-boats above frequently encountered along with mines, midget submarines, and the occasional Luftwaffe aircraft.
The Navy lands supplies in Normandy, 13 June 1944, on board HMS Kelvin during Mr. Churchill’s crossing to France. At 30 knots in the Channel, HMS Scourge is seen from the destroyer HMS Kelvin. Photo by LT CH Parnall, RN, IWM A 24090.
The Navy lands supplies in Normandy, 13 June 1944, on board HMS Kelvin during Mr. Churchill’s crossing to France. At 30 knots in the Channel, HMS Scourge is seen from the destroyer HMS Kelvin. Photo by LT CH Parnall, RN, IWM A 24089.
The King goes to France. 16 June 1944, on board the cruiser HMS Arethusa and at the beachhead in Normandy. The S-class destroyer HMS Scourge, seen from the Arethusa during the crossing. Photo by LT CH Parnall, RN, IWM A 24198.
On 25 June, she escorted vital Convoy FTM 017 from the Thames estuary to the Normandy landing beaches, backfilling equipment and supplies for the push inland.
In addition to seven further Russian runs (JW 061A, RA 061A, JW 063, RA 063, RA 064, JW 065, and RA 065) between November 1944 and March 1945, Scourge clocked in as a carrier escort on Operation Mascot (the July 1944 attempt to cripple the German battleship Tirpitz in the Kaa Fiord), Operation Turbine (August 1944 anti-shipping sweep of the Norwegian coast), Operation Offspring (mining the Norwegian coast), Operation Victual (a distant covering operation for Russian-bound convoy JW59, spoiling to fight Tirpitz), Operations Handfast and Provident (two further Norwegian mining sorties in November 1944), Operation Selenium (more Norwegian mining in February 1945), Operation Newmarket (to raid German U-boat tenders in Kilbotn, Norway in April 1945) and Operation Invective, the latter a destroyer-only anti-shipping run that saw the tin cans shell German searchlight positions on the Norwegian coast.
In early May, she went on one further combat operation in Norwegian waters, as part of the Operation Judgement escort for three jeep carriers bound for another bite at the U-boats of Kilbotn.
It was the Royal Navy’s last offensive operation against the Germans.
Operation Judgement, May 4, 1945, was an attack on the U-boat base at Kilbotn, near Harstad, Norway. This proved to be the last offensive operation by the Home Fleet, as the war in Europe ended just a few days later. The main targets of the attack are, in fact, hidden behind water columns and smoke in the center of the photo. They were the depot ship Black Watch and the Type VIIC submarine U-711 — they were both sunk. The ship visible in the center of the pic is, in all probability, the motor vessel Senja, also sunk in this attack but raised and repaired after the war. U-711 was the last U-boat sunk by the Fleet Air Arm in WW2. The attack was carried out by Avenger torpedo-bombers and Wildcat fighters from Squadrons 846 (HMS Trumpeter, Capt. K. S. Colquhoun), 853 (HMS Queen, Capt. K. J. D’Arcy), and 882 (HMS Searcher, Capt. J. W. Grant).
Wrapping up her RN service in WWII, Scourge sailed as part of VADM McGrigor’s Force 6 into the Skagerrak and Kattegat from 7 to 12 May 1945, marking VE-Day at sea.
For her WWII service, Scourge was granted the battle honors Arctic 1943-45 and Normandy 1944.
Post VJ Day, she was laid up and quietly placed out of service.
At least for a few months.
Dutch Days
Ex-Scourge was sold to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 1 February 1946 after a short spell in ordinary.
At the time, she had her original four 4.7/45s, depth charge armament, Type 144 sonar, and eight torpedo tubes, but had been fitted with two 40mm Bofors Mk IV Hazemeyer mounts, four twin 20mm Oerlikons, and carried upgraded Type 276, 285, and 291 radars.
She joined sisters ex-Scorpion and ex-Serapis, which had been transferred in October 1945 and renamed Hr.Ms. Kortenaer (D 804) and Hr.Ms. Piet Hein (D 805), respectively, in Dutch service. Following the trend of her now-Dutch sisters being named after famous admirals, Scourge became at least the sixth RNN warship named for the storied Evertsen family of naval heroes with pennant D 802. Taking the naming convention forward, all three names had been carried previously by Dutch destroyers (torpedobootjager) lost against the Japanese in 1942.
Evertsen (D 802), ex-HMS Scourge, between 1946 and 1957. NIMH 2158_002503
Almost as soon as their crews got acquainted with their new ships, they were off to the Dutch East Indies, which was fighting mad in the process of becoming Indonesia.
Hr.Ms. Evertsen (ex. HMS Scourge), D 802, and Hr.Ms. Kortenaer (ex. HMS Scorpion), D 804, at Soerabaja, Dutch East Indies, April 1950, clad in flags and tropical canvas. NIMH 2158_028763
The sisters in Jane’s circa 1954, referred to as the Evertsen class in Dutch service.
Aerial photograph of the Hr.Ms Evertsen or the Hr.Ms Kortenaer in the Strait of Madura, 1949. Note her extensive use of canvas awnings. Marine Luchtvaart Dienst Indië KITLV MLD392 30D
Aerial photograph of laying a smoke screen near Gili Pandan Island in the Madura Strait by Hr.Ms Evertsen, Marine Luchtvaart Dienst Indië KITLV MLD390 013
Aerial photograph of gunnery exercises by the Hr.Ms Evertsen or the Hr.Ms Kortenaer in the Strait of Madura, Marine Luchtvaart Dienst Indië KITLV MLD392 017
Korea
Still in the waters off Java when the North Koreans crossed the 38th Parallel in June 1950, Evertsen was dispatched to the Yellow Sea to join the UN forces off the embattled South Korean coast, arriving on 19 July.
She ultimately joined Task Force 96 in the U.S. Seventh Fleet, and saw service during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter and then covered the amphibious squadron at Inchon’s outer port.
Hr. Ms. Evertsen in action at Wonsan, letting her 4.7s ring, 26 April 1951. Nationaal Archief 904-5397
The Dutch naval service off Korea led to the country further sending a battalion of 646 men (the NDVN), which served as part of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, ultimately being rotated out several times.
Speaking of being rotated out, Evertsen was relieved in place by the Dutch destroyer Van Galen at the end of April 1951 and was soon pointed back to Holland, having served 10 months of the “Forgotten War.”
Evertsen on her way home from Korea to the Netherlands, 8 May 1951. In “Sunday uniform” (“Zondags tenue”), most of the officers and men pose on the forecastle. Nationaal Archief 35017_002
Return of destroyer Hr.Ms. Evertsen from Korea, 1951. 2158_028806
As for the Dutch effort in Korea, Van Galen was rotated out in early 1952, replaced by Evertsen’s sister Piet Hein, who in turn was tapped out by the frigate Johan Maurits van Naasau in early 1953. A fifth destroyer, Hr. Ms. Dubois, arrived in November 1953 to enforce the peace, followed by Hr. Ms. Van Zijll in September 1954.
On average, each Dutch ship carried out 10 patrols, mainly along the west coast of Korea. The ships were also given the task of escorting a U.S. or British aircraft carrier on a regular basis. The Dutch ships were also given the task of protecting the lines of communication and bombarding enemy troop concentrations, reinforcements and infrastructure.
The Netherlands sent 5,322 soldiers to Korea, with 2,980 men seeing combat, of which 120 of them were killed and 645 wounded. They fought in battles at Hoengsong, Wonju, Soyang River, and the Iron Triangle, among others. After the armistice, the ground forces withdrew from Korea in December 1954 and the Navy in January 1955.
Some 1,360 Dutch naval personnel served in the Korean War, with the first four warships active in the fighting– Evertsen included– earning the South Korean Distinguished Unit Citation. Only one Dutch sailor, a signalman on Johan Maurits van Nassau, was killed during the conflict.
A peaceful respite
With that, Evertsen would remain in European waters for a few years at least. It was while on this domestic service that she came to the rescue of the distressed Danish schooner Svaerdfisken during a storm in the North Sea in 1954. After towing the Dane to Stavanger, the Danish ambassador to the Netherlands later presented the ship and crew with a commemorative cup in Rotterdam as an official thanks.
A great profile shot of Evertsen working in the North Sea, showing her twin torpedo turnstiles, circa 1953. NIMH 2009-001-018_008
Kortenaer (D 804) with Evertsen (D 802) behind her, dressed for ceremonies. Circa 1953-1955. NIMH 2158_007043
Presto-changeo, you are now a frigate
All of the S-class destroyers in Dutch service were converted at Rijkswerf Willemsoord between 1957 and 1958 to fast frigates (FF) with new sensors, the “X” 4/7″/45 mount removed, a shorter mainmast installed, and a helicopter platform fitted aft for Bell 47s. This saw the class switch from “D” pennants to “F” with Evertsen carrying F 803 afterward.
Meanwhile, the British did a similar Type 15/16 ASW frigate conversion to three dozen remaining T, U, V, W, and Z-class near-sisters during the same period, removing most of the gun armament and fitting new sensors and either a Squid or Limbo A/S mortar.
Jane’s on the class, 1960.
Frigate HNLMS Evertsen (F 803) in the harbor of Ponta Delgada, Azores, 15 December 1957. NIMH 2158_028782
Targeting exercises with a late model 40mm gun aboard the frigate Hr.Ms. Evertsen, 1957. Aiming is at a Grumman TBM-3W2 Avenger, a type that flew with the Dutch fleet between 1953 and 1961. NIMH 2009-003-111_008
Evertsen as a frigate, 1961 2158_107708
Post-conversion, the Evertsens were dispatched once again to the Pacific, this time to keep watch over the last Dutch colony in the Far East, 10 December 1957.
Departure of Hr Ms Evertsen to New Guinea, Nationaal Archief 909-1735
Splash one Jaguar
Queen Juliana, who took over the throne from her ailing mother, the indefatigable Queen Wilhelmina, in 1948, saw a reign that included the decolonization and independence of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and Suriname, although not without a stout fight for the former.
This became particularly sticky when it came to the remnant colony of Dutch New Guinea, which escalated from a tense Confrontation (Konfrontasi) dispute in 1959 into direct low-level military conflict between the Netherlands and Soviet-backed Indonesia in 1962.
With the stage thus set, the Evertsen class was on hand in New Guinea for this endgame.
Evertsen underway as seen from a maritime patrol aircraft off the Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea in the South Pacific, note her frigate conversion. NIMH 2158_028792
Evertsen in the Konijnenburg shipyard slipway Manokwari, Netherlands New Guinea. Note her helicopter platform. NIMH 2158_028817
This conflict came to a head in what is known as the Battle of Vlakke Hoek or the Battle of Arafura Sea in the early morning of 15 January 1962. In the engagement, a trio of brand new West German-built Type 140 Jaguar-class torpedo boats– essentially Lürssen-built updated S-boats– operated by the Indonesian navy, attempted to land 150 infiltrators into Kaimana in Dutch New Guinea as part of Operation Trikora.
The boats, Matjan Tutul, Matjan Kumbang, and Harimau, were blisteringly fast, capable of hitting 42 knots in bursts, and well-armed, bristling with torpedo tubes and 40mm guns.
A 139-foot Lurssen-built Jaguar class, constructed to the Schnellboot 55 design.
However, the little Indonesian flotilla was spotted by an alert Dutch Navy P-2 Neptune patrol plane, and Evertsen, nearby, was diverted to the scene to intercept. Sister Kortenaer and a third Dutch destroyer, the newly commissioned Hr.Ms. Utrecht trailed behind.
By the time the smoke cleared, Evertsen sank the flagship MTB, RI Matjan Tutul (650). The two other Jaguars were damaged but made their escape more or less intact. Among the 23 missing considered dead was the flotilla commander, Commodore Yosaphat “Yos” Sudarso.
The Battle of Vlakke Hoek (Dutch New Guinea). Empty shells after the action aboard a fast frigate of the Evertsen class. NIMH 2158_035634
A short color film in the NIMH archives contains footage from Evertsen’s radar during the night battle near Vlakke Hoek with the Indonesian motor torpedo boat Matjan Tutul, including the captured survivors on the quarterdeck of the frigate the next morning.
The three Evertsens remained in Dutch service through the UN-brokered agreement to the transfer of Dutch New Guinea from Dutch to Indonesian control in October 1962.
An Evertsen-class destroyer (with tropical canvas) photographed from the air at Mios Woendi, Papua, between May and July 1962. NIMH 2007-11-27
Sent back to Europe, the class, obsolete for NATO use, was retired and scrapped in 1963.
Epilogue
The Dutch ships were the final S-class destroyers, the type having left British service in 1960. The last of their (near) sisters, the V-class destroyer HMS Grenville (R97/F197), remained in RN service until 1974 as a trials ship and was only broken up in 1983.
The British have not reused the awe-inspiring sea dog-appropriate name HMS Scourge, but the Dutch have recycled Evertsen for a Van Speijk-class frigate (F815), active from 1967 to 1989, and a De Zeven Provincien-class frigate (F805), commissioned in 2005.
HNLMS Evertsen conducts a high-speed turn in the Gulf of Aden while on JTF duties
As for Indonesia, a replica of Matjan Tutul has been created.
Matjan Tutul (replica), at the Satriamandala Museum in Indonesia. Wikimedia Commons image
The Troika commodore who was killed in the operation, Yos Sudarso, was promoted to vice admiral posthumously and has had two frigates named after him since then. Ironically, the current one to bear the name is a former Dutch Van Speijk-class frigate that has remained in Indonesian service since 1985.
KRI Yos Sudarso (353) Indonesian Navy, Ex HNLMS F 803 van Galen
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
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The “long-hull” Essex-class fleet carrier USS Leyte (CV-32)is seen loading aircraft at Yokosuka, Japan, for transportation to the U.S. at the end of her Korean War combat tour. The photograph is dated 24 January 1951. Several decommissioned Tacoma-class frigates (PF), late of the Soviet Red Banner fleet, are moored in groups across the harbor background while a snow-capped Mount Fuji is just visible in the distance.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 97295
Commissioned 11 April 1946, Leyte (laid down as USS Crown Point) came too late for WWII but got her licks in off Korea from 9 October 1950 through 19 January 1951, where the ship and her airwing of Air Group Three spent 92 days at sea and flew 3,933 sorties against North Korean and Chinese forces.
Her pilots accumulated nearly 11,000 hours in the air while inflicting massive damage upon enemy positions, supplies, transportation, and communications.
Other outfits included another Corsair squadron, VF-33, a F9F-2 Panther unit (VF-31), an AD-3/4 Skyraider squadron (VA-35), and smaller dets from VC-4 (F4U-5N night fighters), VC-62 (F4U-5P photo birds), VC-12 (AD-4W), VC-33 (AD-3N), and a couple of well-used whirly birds from HU-2 who were famed for their C-SAR use.
USS Leyte (CV-32). Moored off Naval Operating Base, Yokosuka, Japan, during a break from Korean War operations, 1 December 1950. 80-G-424599
Mascot “Beno” sits in a Grumman F9F-2 Panther of Fighter Squadron Three One (VF-31) “Tomcatters” aboard USS Leyte (CV-32) as she pulled into San Diego, California, at the end of her Korean deployment. 3 February 1951.
Never modernized from her 1946 arrangement, Leyte was reclassified as CVA-32 in October 1952 and as an anti-submarine carrier, CVS-32, the following August, operating in the Med and Caribbean for the rest of the decade.
Reclassified as a training carrier, AVT-10, in May 1959, she decommissioned the same day and was sold for scrap in 1970 after her parts were raided to keep her sisters in service; her usefulness to the Navy was at an end.
Official period caption: “Egyptian sub-chaser anchored in Grand Harbor, Valetta, Malta. 24 January 1951.”
Photographed by U.S. Navy PH2 W.S. McGill, 80-G-426951
I’m fairly sure that the warship above, with very British lines, is the Egyptian Navy frigate El Malek al Farouq (Farouk). A former Yarrow-built Black Swan-class sloop,HMS Whimbrel (U 29), she entered service in January 1943, making her just eight years old in the above photo.
She replaced a Hawthorne-built sloop of the same name, which was sunk in a scrap with the Israelis in 1948. As such, she was the best ship in the Egyptian fleet until a pair of ex-British Z-class destroyers (HMS Myngs and Zenith) were transferred in 1955.
Transferred in November 1949 to the nascent Egyptian force, she was named after Farouk I, the King of Egypt and the Sudan from 1936 through 1952, including the period during which she was captured above.
After King Farouk was overthrown in a military coup, the sloop/frigate was renamed a third time to Tariq (Tarik) in 1954.
Tariq, ex-Farouk, ex-Whimbrel, in the 1960 Janes.
Where the ship really stands out is, as Whimbrel, rode on more than two dozen Atlantic convoys and picked up battle honors for Sicily, 1943; Atlantic, 1943–44; Normandy, 1944; English Channel, 1944; Arctic, 1944; and Okinawa, 1945, and has been reported as the only member remaining of the 16 Royal Navy warships to have been present at the Surrender of Japan on VJ Day in Tokyo Bay.
Wait, what?
Yeah, the Egyptians apparently kept Tariq in somewhat limited service as a pier-side trainer until at least 2016 and held on to her for a while after that.
Assorted museums in the UK have shown an interest in housing ex-Whimbrel and as a museum ship, but I am not sure that is still a thing.
U.S. Navy Lt. F.A.W. Franke takes off in an early McDonnell F3H-2M Demon (BuNo 137003) of Fighter Squadron VF-61 “Jolly Rogers” from aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) during carrier qualifications, 10 April 1957.
U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2011.003.287.024
Of note, with the adoption of the Martin-Baker 0/0 ejection seat still a minute down the road, cats and traps at this time were done with the canopy open.
Deactivating warships tied up at Pier 91, Seattle, Washington, in a photo dated April 1946. On the near side of the pier are the carriers Essex (CV-9), Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), and Bunker Hill (CV-17), closer to the camera. On the far side of the pier is the carrier Ticonderoga (CV-14) and the battleships Indiana (BB-58) and Alabama (BB-60). NARA 80-G-373247.
Some 80 years ago, in January 1946, USS Essex (CV-9) rested at Puget Sound Navy Shipyard’s Pier 91 in Bremerton, having arrived there in mid-September 1945 just after her last of four wartime air groups, CVG-83, flew off.
Defueled and with her ammunition offloaded, her engines were cold, she was taking shore power, while at the same time her crew was thinning out due to transfers and discharges with few replacements. The word had passed that the carrier, rushed to completion and urgently needed when she was commissioned in December 1942, was destined for mothballs after just three years of service.
She was hard-used, having steamed 233,419.75 nautical miles since commissioning, fired 333,377 rounds of ammunition (all 20mm and higher), and logged 22,260 combat sorties during the war.
When commissioned, five of the eight pre-WWII U.S. carriers had been lost in combat, and the other three were either too small to fight in the Pacific (Ranger) or suffering from damage (Saratoga and Enterprise), making Essex worth her weight in gold.
Her first air group, CVG-9, came aboard in August 1943 and would remain until replaced by CVG-15 in May 1944. CVG-4 tapped in on 22 November 1944 and was removed a few days later after Essex suffered a kamikaze hit that left her extensively damaged. Her last group, CVG-83 (augmented by two Marine Corsair units, VMF-124 and VMF-213), shipped out with her at the end of 1944 after she was repaired and resumed operations.
Essex, the first of her legendary class of modern fast fleet carriers, earned the Presidential Unit Citation and 13 battle stars for World War II service. When it comes to WWII carriers, only the Enterprise had more stars (20).
Some statistics from her WWII service:
Slowly made ready to deactivate throughout 1946, Essex decommissioned on 9 January 1947.
By that time, the Navy hardly missed her as they would do the same thing with 13 of her newer sisters by February 1948 (USS Yorktown, Intrepid, Franklin, Ticonderoga, Randolph, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Wasp, Hancock, Bennington, Bon Homme Richard, Shangri-La, and Lake Champlain) and canceled two others, the planned Reprisal and Iwo Jima. Even with this, the Navy still had nine pristine long-hulled improved Essex-class flattops– five of them commissioned after WWII– and three brand-new 60,000-ton Midway-class super carriers on active service.
The only time in history that a fleet had over a dozen modern fleet carriers laid up.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, probably on 23 April 1948. Bremerton Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. The six “mothballed” carriers are, front to back: Essex (CV-9), Ticonderoga (CV-14), Yorktown (CV-10), Lexington (CV‑16), Bunker Hill (CV-17), and Bon Homme Richard (CV-31, in the background). At left and in the distance are battleships and cruisers. Note the “igloo” domes over the 40mm and 5-inch singles. NARA 80-G-428458
Essex would, however, rejoin the fleet, completing a SCB-27A conversion to operate jets, and was recommissioned in January 1951– just in time to see extensive combat in Korea. Essex was the first carrier to launch F2H Banshee twin-jet fighters on combat missions on 23 August 1951.
She saw a more exaggerated SCB-125 angled deck/hurricane bow conversion in 1955-56 and spent her last 13 years in Cold War service in the Atlantic, including some shenanigans during the Bay of Pigs invasion, tense times in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and being the primary recovery ship for Apollo 7.
The last three remaining American pre-WWII flattops, the famed USS Saratoga (CV-3), Ranger (CV-4), and Enterprise (CV-6), were decommissioned shortly after VJ-Day. With the Prohibition-era “Sister Sara” sunk in A Bomb tests in ’46, Ranger scrapped in 1947, and “The Big E” stricken in 1956, Essex became the oldest American WWII-veteran carrier. She held that title for 17 years until 1973, when she was stricken and sold for scrap.
“Lady” Lexington (CVT/AVT-16), commissioned six weeks after Essex, would pick up that torch and carry it to November 1991.
