Unlike many U.S. allies and Western fleets in general, which got into the submarine game post WWII, South Korea never operated surplus American fleet boats for a couple of decades, then upgraded to German SSKs– they just went German from the get-go.
South Korea’s first full-sized (not midget) submarine, ROKS Jang Bogo (SSK-61/SS-061), was recently decommissioned after nearly 34 years of service. A German HDW-made Type 209/1200 boat ordered on 12 August 1986, she was named for the 8th-century Korean admiral Chang Pogo. Launched in September 1991, she was commissioned in October 1992.
Most famously, Jang Bogo was reportedly never detected as a Red OPFOR boat during RIMPAC 2004, virtually firing 40 torpedoes, “sinking” 15 ships, including the super carrier USS John C. Stennis. A serious wakeup call to the USN when it came to ASW against a modern SSK.
040706-N-6811L-080 Pacific Ocean (July 6, 2004) – Republic of Korea Submarine Chang Bogo (SSK 61) heads out to sea during exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). U. S. Navy photo 040706-N-6811L-080 by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class David A. Levy (RELEASED)
Eight of her sisters, upgraded by Daewoo, continue in operation in ROKN service at least for now, carrying the locally-made and very advanced White Shark heavy torpedo and submarine-launched Hae Sung anti-ship missiles. They are being replaced by a licensed copy of the German Type 214, the KSS-II/Sohn Wonyil-class, AIP-equipped 1,800-ton boats, made by HII and Daewoo.
The only surviving “Sprucan” has recently picked up a new paint job.
The ex-USS Paul F. Foster (DD-964), commissioned 21 February 1976 and struck in 2004 after a very busy 28 years with the fleet, is now simply referred to as the Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division’s Self Defense Test Ship, or the catchy NSWC PHD SDTS.
She has been at Naval Base Ventura County (Port Hueneme) receiving a fresh coat of haze gray as the conclusion of a $30 million Selected Restricted Availability package, awarded to Port Hueneme-based AdvantEdge Technology Inc, that has been taking place slowly since April 2024.
The repainting is slated to be completed later this month.
A worker with Ventura, California-based general contractor C.D. Lyon Inc. stands on a pontoon boat tied to the Self Defense Test Ship as he puts a primer coat on the hull to prepare it for painting Nov. 7 at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division. (U.S. Navy photo by Dana Rene White)
A worker with Ventura, California-based general contractor C.D. Lyon Inc. stands on a pontoon boat tied to the Self Defense Test Ship as he puts a primer coat on the hull to prepare it for painting Nov. 7 at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division. (U.S. Navy photo by Dana Rene White)
She returned to her homeport at Naval Base Ventura County last summer after 14 months at BAE San Diego, looking, well, kind of depressing.
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division’s Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS), ex-USS Paul F. Foster (DD 964), returns to Port Hueneme, California, from San Diego on June 12. The SDTS spent 14 months in the BAE Systems Ship Repair shipyard for maintenance and upgrades. (U.S. Navy photo by Dana Rene White)
The new paint should help.
Meanwhile, her veteran’s organization is preparing for her 50th anniversary in the coming weeks.
Cold War, Soviet Ships. Mediterranean Sea. January 1976.
A Fighter Squadron 32 (VF 32), F-14A Tomcat fighter aircraft seen in full color livery while in flight near a Soviet “Kresta II” class guided missile cruiser underway below. The Tomcat was assigned on board the aircraft carrierUSS John F. Kennedy (CV 67).
Note that the Cat is “dressed for work,” carrying a mixture of Phoenix, Sparrow, and Sidewinder missiles.
Photograph received January 1976. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 428-GX-K-112540
The squadron has a lot of “firsts” on its sheet.
VF-32, the “Fighting Swordsmen” or “Gypsies” depending on which year you are talking about, originated on 1 February 1945, as Bombing Fighting (VBF) 3, after the old “Felix the Cat” Fighter Squadron (VF) 3 was split into two squadrons. VBF-3 joined Carrier Air Group 3 aboard USS Yorktown (CV 10) operating in the Pacific theater. Flying F6F-5 Hellcats, VBF-3 pilots became the first Navy carrier-based pilots to attack the homeland of the Japanese Empire. During heavy action, the squadron shot down 24 Japanese aircraft for which the Swordsmen received the Presidential Unit Citation.
By 1948, they had been redesignated VF-32 and were flying Corsairs, aircraft they would use to good effect in Korea from the deck of USS Leyte (CV 32). The squadron had Jesse Brown and Thomas Hudner for that cruise.
Ensign Jesse L. Brown, USN. In the cockpit of an F4U-4 Corsair fighter, circa 1950. He was the first African-American to be trained by the Navy as a Naval Aviator, and as such, he became the first African-American Naval Aviator to see combat. Brown flew with Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) from USS Leyte (CV-32). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. USN 1146845.
Finishing out that war, they were the first squadron to field the F9F-6 Cougar and later the Navy’s first supersonic squadron when they switched to a different Corsair, the F-8, which they flew during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
By 1966, in early F-4B Phantoms, they logged 940 sorties over Vietnam from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA 42).
Then they entered their Tomcat period in 1974– an aircraft they used to good effect, often from JKF, over Lebanon, Grenada, against Libya, Bosnia, the Gulf War, and OIF, also grabbing the Admiral Clifton Award numerous times.
They hugged the “Bombcat” a tearful goodbye in 2005, capping a 31-year run with the F-14 platform, and shifted to Rhinos, flying F-18F Super Hornets since then as the NAS Oceana-based VFA-32.
In addition to multiple GWOT deployments, on 14 July 2024, an unidentified female pilot in VFA-32 became the first American female pilot to engage and kill an air-to-air contact as part of 1,500 combat missions in support of Operations Inherent Resolve and Prosperity Guardian.
If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”
Warship Wednesday 7 January 2026: Wilbur’s Beachcombing
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-432570
Above we see the modified Flower (Honesty) class frigate Prasae of the Royal Thai Navy aground behind enemy lines on the Korean east coast, some 75 years ago this week, in January 1951. Several U.N. personnel are standing on the beach near a boat, surveying the near-hopeless situation. An LCVP is also stranded just inshore of the frigate. Note ice on the shore and on the seaward side of the ship.
The hard-luck frigate may have been a loss, but all 111 of her survivors were all successfully plucked off the snow-covered beach by one intrepid “silver eagle” aviator and his primitive eggbeater.
Albeit slowly.
Amid a blizzard.
And under near constant enemy fire.
Meet Betony & Sind
Our subject started life as the Royal Navy’s Flower-class corvetteHMS Betony (K274), ordered 8 December 1941– the day of the first Japanese attacks on British Hong Kong and other possessions in the Pacific, kicking off a whole new war.
Laid down 26 September 1942 at Alexander Hall and Sons in Aberdeen as Yard No. 687, the future Betony launched on 22 April 1943 and commissioned on 31 August 1943.
Her inaugural commander was the long-serving Lt. Nicholas Bryan John Stapleton, RD, RNR– who formerly was skipper of the Flower-class sister HMS Amaranthus (K 17), and before that the ASW whaler HMT Southern Pride (K 249).
HMS Betony (K274) underway, likely in British Home waters, circa 1943. IWM FL 2011
WWII Service
Our vessel suffered her first loss, with Act/Petty Officer Hubert M. Jones, P/SSX 20752, of her company listed as “died of wounds” on 28 November 1943 without further elaboration.
She was soon on convoy runs, tagging along with OS.59/ KMS.33 out of Liverpool for two weeks before 1943 was out.
After further workups in Scotland and a deployment to the Eastern Fleet at Trincomalee in early 1944, Stapleton handed command of the new Betony over to T/Lt. Percy Ellis Croisdale Pickles, RNVR, on 20 October 1944. While in the Indian Ocean, she performed escort duties for a dozen slow convoys on the CJ (Calcutta to Colombo) and BM/MB (Bombay to Colombo) runs between February and October 1944.
HMS Betony (K274) broadside view
She was loaned to the Royal Indian Navy in January 1945 and assigned to the hardscrabble Burma Coast Escort Force, operating alongside sistership corvettes HMIS Assam, HMS Meadowsweet, and HMS Tulip; the River-class frigates HMS Taff, Shiel, Lossie, Deveron, Test, and Nadder; and the old Town-class destroyers HMS Sennent (ex-USCGC Champlain) and Lulworth (ex-USCGC Chelan) out of Colombo.
When the war was all but over, Betony was officially commissioned on 24 August 1945 into the RIN as HMIS Sind, keeping her same pennant number (K274). Her only “Indian” skipper was T/A/Lt.Cdr. Leonard George Prowse, RINVR, formerly commander of the armed yacht HMS Rion (FY 024), who assumed command in March 1945.
With the corvette suffering from engine troubles, she was nominated for disposal and paid off on 17 May 1946
Bangkok Bound
Thailand had a winding path during WWII. Having fought in 1940-41 with the Vichy French over Cambodia (some things never change!), the country claimed neutrality until a near-bloodless “invasion” by Japan in December 1941, after which it entered into an outright military alliance that only ended post-VJ Day. Ceding territories its troops had seized in Burma and Malaya back to Britain and in Cambodia back to France under an American-brokered agreement in 1946, the country became the 55th nation to join the UN in December 1946 and swung more or less to the West.
This opened the country to military aid, which included receiving two surplus former RIN corvettes from Britain– ex-HMS Burnet/HMIS Gondwana (K 348) and our ex-HMS Betony/HMIS Sind on 15 May 1947. They were given a short refit and recommissioned into the Thai fleet as the frigates HTMS Bangpakong and HTMS Prasae, respectively.
HMTS Prasae
The British also transferred the humble 1,000-ton Algerine-class minesweeper HMS Minstrel (J 445), which became HTMS Phosamton (MSC-451).
The turnover ceremony was held in the naval dockyard of Singapore.
Although third-hand, the two surplus corvettes/frigates and the minesweeper were much appreciated and joined a Thai fleet that included the quaint but decrepit Thonburi-class coastal defense ship HTMS Sri Ayudhya (2,350-tons, 253 ft oal, 15 knots, 4×8″/50s, 4×3″/50s) whose sister had been sunk by the French in 1940, the 1,400-ton Japanese-built sloop HTMS Maeklong (which doubled as the royal yacht and naval cadet training ship), seven remaining pre-war Italian-built 300-ton Trad-class torpedo boats, the two old Armstrong-built Rattanakosindra-class gunboats (800 tons, 174 feet, 2×6″, 12 knots), four long-laid-up Japanese-built Matchanu-class costal submarines, and a handful of old coasters, dispatch, and survey vessels.
Later in 1947, the U.S. transferred three surplus PC-461-class 173-foot subchasers: HTMS Sarasin (ex USS PC-495), HTMS Thayanchon (ex USS PC-575), and HTMS Khamronsin (USS PC-609); and two LSM-1 class landing craft (ex USS LSM-333 and 338), further modernizing the Thai fleet, which by 1950 numbered 1,100 officers and 10,000 ratings.
Things were looking up.
Korea
In the wake of the Korean War in June 1950, Thailand was the first Asian nation (besides the exiled KMT on Taiwan, which is a whole ‘nother story) to offer ground troops to the UN Force. Before the end of the war, the anti-Chinese Prime Minister (former Field Marshal) Plaek Pibulsonggram wholeheartedly contributed over 11,700 ground troops (soon reequipped with U.S. uniforms and small arms), 40,000 tons of rice, and both of the country’s new frigates to the effort.
A newly formed unit of picked men, the 21st Infantry Regiment, Queen’s Guard (Thahan Suea Rachini), was drawn from across the Army.
Thai troops of the 21st Regiment embarking for Korea, October 1950. Note their French-style helmets, U.S.-marked haversacks, and Japanese-made Showa-period Mausers. Ultimately, more than 10,000 Thai troops would serve in the Korean War alongside U.S. forces, fighting notably at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. (Photo: UN News Archives)
The two frigates, each with a picked crew of 110 officers and men, were made ready by early October 1950, and they would escort the first battalion of the Thai Army to Korea, with the latter carried on the old Japanese-built transport coaster HTMS Sichang, and the chartered merchant ship Hertamersk.
Prasae’s skipper was Prince (CDR) Uthaichalermlab Wutthichai, 35, who had learned his trade in England and had pinned on his lieutenant bars in 1938 before serving in WWII, and earning the Tritaphon Mongkut Thai among other decorations. Prince Wutthichai, the senior officer afloat, became the commodore of the little Thai squadron headed to Korea.
Some 307 Thai Navy personnel and ~1,200 troops left Thailand’s Khlong Toei port aboard the four ships on 22 October 1950, headed north. They arrived in Pusan on 7 November.
The U.S.-reequipped 21st Infantry, which soon earned the nickname the “Little Tigers,” served alongside the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division and would see hard combat in the Third Battle for Seoul and at Pork Chop Hill.
Once attached to the UN Forces on 10 November, the two Thai frigates were given a short overhaul in Japan, which included updated sonar and radar suites, then tasked for a month under CTF-95 as guard ships for the entrance to the naval roads at Sasebo, Japan, with Prasae on the morning shift and Bangpakong overnight.
Then came a more kinetic assignment.
In early January 1951, Prasae and Bangpakong were under Task Force 77 orders on the gun line off the east coast of Korea near the 38th parallel, providing fire support missions to troops ashore with their single 4-inch BL Mk.IXs, steaming with a destroyer force including USS Wallace L. Lind (DD-703) as part of the East Coast Blockading and Patrol Task Group (TG 95.2).
The first shelling operation on North Korea’s east coast by the Thai Navy began on 3 January, firing along the coast between latitudes 38 and 39 degrees North, between the cities of Changjon and Yangyang. On 5-6 January, shelling of railway stations, transportation routes, and military structures in the Chodo area was carried out.
Then came a blizzard that was so severe that it grounded carrier and most fixed wing sorties between 6 and 11 January and filled central Korea with snow showers, haze, smoke, low clouds, 30 knot winds, and fog, dropping visibility to zero and bottoming out thermometers, Prasae drifted into the shallows on the cape of Kisamun-dan in Hyeonbuk-myeon, Yangyang, Gangwon, North Korea. She was hard aground, at a 60-degree angle to the shoreline, just 200 yards offshore.
She was also in enemy held-territory some 16 klicks north of the 38th Parallel.
Stranded Thai frigate Prasae, January 1951 80-G-432568
The Lewis S. Parks Papers in the Harry S. Truman Library contain dozens of Navy images of the rescue operation, digitized (low rez) in the National Archives. They were taken in most cases by U.S. Navy LT William DuCoing, presumably of the USS Manchester, who “witnessed several enemy soldiers killed while on this beach.”
During a blizzard night, the Thailand Corvette Prasae grounded on North Korea’s eastern coast in enemy territory about 200 yards offshore, NARA 350892732
A group of unidentified Thai sailors makes a close inspection of the ship HMTS Prasae after it grounded on the Korean coast during a United Nations operation. NARA 350898508
During a blizzard night, the Thailand Corvette Prasae grounded on North Korea’s eastern coast in enemy territory about 200 yards offshore. The sailor in the foreground is unidentified. Jan. 6, 1951. NARA 350892736
A view of the coast of Korea, where the Thailand ship HMTS Prasae was grounded during a blizzard. NARA 350898520
Snow covers a beach in Korea during the evacuation of Thai troops from the grounded HMTS Prasae in enemy territory. NARA 350892752
The alert went out, and Task Force 77 sprang into action to save the stranded Thai warship and her crew.
The salvage operation included the old Gleaves-class destroyer/minesweeper USS Endicott (DMS-35), which tried to send in LCVPs to recover marooned Thai sailors, joined by Prasae’s sister Bangpakong, whose small boats attempted to approach the beach without success due to fierce surf and rollers.
Endicott’s sisters USS Thompson (DMS-38), Carmick (DMS-33), and Doyle (DMS-34) moved in to assist and clear lanes for mines. De-beaching lines were attempted by Comstock (LSD-19) and Bolster (ARS-38), which also proved unsuccessful.
A U.S. Navy salvage crew aboard the Thailand Corvette HMTS Prasae, which ran aground in enemy territory on the coast of Korea. Left to right, HMC E.P. Wacham, USN; Lieutenant Junior Grade M.D. Taylor, USN; and RM2 C.K. Hayard, USN. Note, only three names were listed. 80-G-426187
Endicott rescued three Thai sailors after they were washed overboard from one of the pulling boats, but unfortunately, a fourth one drowned. Endicott’s doctor and chief corpsman also went ashore to care for casualties until they could be evacuated.
With carrier aircraft grounded due to the poor flying conditions, fire support to keep interloping Chicom and Nork troops at bay was provided by the Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Manchester (CL-83) and her companion destroyers USS English (DD-696), Borie (DD-704), Hank (DD-702), and Forrest Royal (DD-872).
Truman got a White House briefing on Prasaeat least ten times during this period as part of his daily situation reports on the war.
The USS Manchester guards the grounded HMTS Prasae with destroyers and other ships while rescue efforts take place in enemy territory on shore. NARA 350892746
Two unidentified U.S. sailors unwrap blankets brought to stranded sailors from Thailand. In the background, their ship, the HMTS Prasae, can be seen where she grounded on the Korean coast during a blizzard. The Prasae was part of a United Nations operation when she ran aground. Gunfire from the USS Manchester protected the stranded sailors and rescuers from enemy troops. NARA 350898492
Early attempts at using helicopters in the rescue proved fatal.
On 8 January, a Sikorsky H03S1 of Helicopter Utility Squadron TWO (HU-2) embarked on the carrier USS Valley Forge, maneuvered near Prasae when a rogue wave caused the ship to roll. The helicopter’s rotors hit the mast, causing the mast to collapse and the helicopter to crash in flames, which then ignited 20mm shells, causing more damage to the ship. The crew put the fire out in under 30 minutes. Somewhat miraculously, the helicopter pilot, Lieutenant (junior grade) John W. Thornton, his aircrewman, and a salvage officer all survived the crash, but another Thai sailor drowned.
Manchester was lucky enough to have a replacement Sikorsky HO3S-1 (H-5/S-51) helicopter (“UP27” BuNo 122715) detached from Helicopter Utility Squadron 1 (HU-1) aboard USS Philippine Sea.
Nicknamed Clementine, she was piloted by the one and only Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic, ADC (Aviation Pilot), Duane Wilbur Thorin (NSN: 3165995). An enlisted pilot who joined the Navy in 1939 at age 19 and earned his silver NAP wings after finishing flight training in 1943. The blonde-haired Thorin– eighth son of Swedish emigrants to Nebraska– moved into rotary-wing billets after the war. He had already earned something of a swashbuckling reputation, shuttling out on one-man missions to rescue downed fliers in his contraption, typically while clad in his trademark non-regulation green headgear.
Clementine wasn’t much, with her 450hp R-985 Wasp Junior only enabling her to lift about 900 pounds of useful cargo (pilot included) off the ground on a full tank of gas in good weather, but she was on hand and had enough range to shuttle back and forth from Prasae to Manchester.
A Sikorsky HO3S-1 (H-5) helicopter lands on the deck of the USS Manchester, with the cruiser’s 6- and 5-inch guns bristling in an undated photograph in good weather. The helicopter is BuNo 124345 (MSN 51204), which survived the war. NARA 350898476
USS Manchester (CL-83) Sikorski HO3S helicopter, UP20 of squadron HU-1, lands on the cruiser’s after deck after a gunfire spotting mission off the Korean coast, March 1953. Note: Manchester’s wooden decking with aircraft tie-down strips and hangar cover tracks; 6″/47 triple gun turrets; 5″/38 and 3″/50 twin gun mounts. NH 92578
With the likelihood that the grounded ship could be pulled off while under fire dropping to zero, and hypothermia setting in with the survivors who were running out of supplies and battling below-zero temperatures overnight, the order went to Clementine to pull them off, typically just two or three men at a time.
On inbound flights to Prasae, Thorin and Clementine dropped off a small medical team under Doc Myers, and a security team under LT Taylor to help guard and mark the LZ for future flights. At one point, they exchanged long-distance shots with a four-man enemy patrol just over the dunes.
They also brought blankets and some hot chow.
An aerial view of the frigate from Thailand, the HMTS Prasae, that ran aground off the western coast of North Korea during a snowstorm. The image was taken from the rescue helicopter sent from the USS Manchester. Original caption: HMTS Prasae as seen from Manchester copter. UN ships are firing air bursts. NARA 350898532
A crewman from the grounded Thailand ship HMTS Prasae stands guard as the helicopter from the USS Manchester shuttles the stranded sailors to safety. NARA 350898468
A helicopter from the USS Philippine Sea, piloted by Chief Aviation Pilot D. W. Thorin, lands on the snowy beach to effect the rescue of the crew of the Thailand ship HMTS Prasae. The Prasae, which was part of a United Nations operation, grounded during a snowstorm. The rescue team was surrounded by enemy troops during the operation, but was protected by gunfire from the USS Manchester. Jan.6, 1951. NARA 350898472
Under enemy fire, unidentified troops and crew members from the USS Manchester use their ship’s helicopter to rescue crew from the HMTS Prasae, which ran aground off the coast of Korea during a blizzard. Lieutenant Taylor is in the foreground, guarding the helicopter with a (likely borrowed) M50 Madsen SMG. 350892804
Dr. Meyers of the USS Manchester attends to the wounded on the shore after the Thailand Corvette HMTS Prasae ran aground off the North Korean coast during a blizzard. All others are unidentified. NARA 350892744
Under enemy fire, unidentified troops and crew members from the run aground HMTS Prasae take shelter on the beach while they await rescue from the USS Manchester helicopter. NARA 350892780
Under enemy fire, unidentified troops and crew members from the run aground HMTS Prasae take shelter on the beach while they await rescue from the USS Manchester helicopter. NARA 350892784
Under enemy fire, troops and crew members from the run aground HMTS Prasae take shelter on the beach while they await rescue from the USS Manchester helicopter. NARA 350892762
APC (NAP) Thorin prepares to take off in his helicopter with another load of survivors from the Thailand corvette, the HMTS Prasae, which ran aground during a blinding snowstorm off the coast of Korea. Other members of the helicopter stand guard as the rescue was conducted behind enemy lines. Men guarding the rescue operation are armed with M-3 submachine guns. NH 97164
During personnel evacuations on a beach in Korea, two enemy shell bursts are visible. The USS Manchester aided in the evacuation of stranded Thai sailors from the HMTS Prasae that ran aground during a blizzard. NARA 350892750
The USS Manchester’s helicopter, nicknamed the Clementine, lands on the snow-covered beach at Kisamun Dan, Korea. A rescue mission was launched after the HMTS Prasae, a Thai Corvette, ran aground on Korea’s Eastern Coast during a blizzard. The HMTS Prasae is in the foreground. NARA 350892788
Thai sailors are stranded on the western coast of Korea after their ship, the HMTS Prasae, ran aground during a snowstorm. At a snow-covered beach, the United States Navy helicopter UP 27 arrives to rescue the sailors. NARA 350898526
An unidentified Thai sailor from the HMTS Prasae boards the rescue helicopter. The helicopter, which had been borrowed from the USS Philippine Sea after the USS Manchester’s helicopter crashed, was piloted by Chief (Aviation Pilot) D. W. Thorin, who can be seen inside the helicopter facing the camera. NARA 350898512
Under enemy fire, unidentified troops and crew members from the USS Manchester use their ship’s helicopter to rescue crew from the HMTS Prasae, which ran aground off the coast of Korea during a blizzard. NARA 350892798
Meanwhile, CDR Wutthichai, the stricken ship’s skipper, directed his navigators and gunners to destroy anything that could be useful to the enemy, doused the ship with oil and placed gunpowder in various locations, and then left the ship last.
Wutthichai was likewise the final man that Clementine pulled from the beach.
The USS Manchester’s helicopter, nicknamed the Clementine, lands on the snow-covered beach at Kisamun Dan, Korea. A rescue mission was launched after the HTMS Prasae, a Thai Corvette, ran aground on Korea’s Eastern Coast during a blizzard. Original caption: With the temperature at 12 degrees below zero, the last of Commander Wutthichai’s crew are evacuated. NARA 350892786
Over the three days between 11 and 13 January, Chief Thorin and Clementine pulled 126 men from Prasae in 40 sorties, 111 Thai and 15 USN, bringing them all safely to Manchester’s little wooden helo deck.
Seventeen of the 111 evacuees from the Thailand corvette, HMTS Prasae, wear U.S. Navy-issued dungarees while aboard the USS Manchester. NARA 350892830
Of Prasae’s crew, two were killed in the grounding and drawn-out rescue under fire: Petty Officer 2nd Class Chan Muang-am and Petty Officer 2nd Class Phuan Phonsayam, both later posthumously promoted to CPO. Twenty-seven of her crew were injured, with a mixture of frostbite and shrapnel as the cause of wounds.
The unmanned and wrecked hulk of Prasae was destroyed by naval gunfire from USS English on 13 January, via 50 rounds of 5-inch common.
Those not hospitalized in Japan were soon shipped aboard Bangpakong.
Survivors of the stricken Thailand corvette HTMS Prasae board the Thailand corvette HMTS Bang Pakong, off the coast of Korea. Photograph released January 17, 1951. 80-G-426769
As for her sister Bangpakong (ex-Burnet, ex-Gondwana), she remained in Korean service until February 1952 and in Thai service until stricken in 1984.
Epilogue
With the Thai government still eager to contribute to the effort in Korea, the U.S. Navy quickly sold them two laid-up Tacoma-class patrol frigates, late of the Soviet Red Banner Pacific Fleet via Lend-Lease, the USS Glendale (PF-36) and USS Gallup (PF-47), for the princely sum of $861,940.
Transferred in October 1951 at Yokosuka, Glendale became the Thai Navy ship Tachin. Gallup became the Thai Navy ship Prasae. Along with them came five more PC-461s, two LCIs, and three surplus SC-1627-class 119-foot subchasers, these smaller vessels slated for immediate service in Thai coastal waters while the frigates remained deployed.
USS Glendale (PF-36) and USS Gallup (PF-47) fly the flags of Thailand during transfer ceremonies at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, 29 October 1951. Both ships are still wearing their U.S. Navy numbers. NH 97102
Following a workup in Japanese waters, the new Prasae and Tachin departed Sasebo on 12 January 1952 in company with sistership USS Bisbee (PF 46) on their first escort mission since their purchase by and addition to the Thailand Navy.
The new pair of frigates served for the duration of the Korean War and well into the tense shift into peace, rotating crews with fresh ones shipped in from Thailand at least twice. Both departed South Korea for their first trip home on 22 January 1956, nearly three years after the shooting had stopped! Some 2,485 Thai naval personnel served in Korean waters, with 1,679 of them receiving UN service medals. Two Thai naval personnel were also awarded U.S. Bronze stars.
In the course of Thailand’s involvement in the Korean War, the country suffered 1,273 casualties, comprising 129 killed in action (including two Navy), 1,139 wounded, and 5 missing. The country maintained a company-sized infantry force in the ROK to watch the DMZ until July 1972. They continue to contribute two officers and 13 enlisted to the more or less permanent UNC Military Armistice Commission-Secretariat (UNCMAC-S) in South Korea today.
Speaking of South Korea today, with the border shifting slightly to the line of contact in place when the armistice was signed, the cape that Praese was grounded on has been part of the ROK since 1953, and these days is often referred to as “38th Parallel Beach,” a popular surfing spot (in the summer).
Prince Wutthichai, Praese’s final skipper, returned home with his crew in March 1951, married Princess Vimolchat, and had two children. Decorated with the Order of the White Elephant in 1953, he passed just five years later, aged 43. There seems to be a story there.
Chief Thorin fully earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for his rescue efforts on the grounded Prasae, then added a Gold Star to his DFC in November 1951 while flying from the cramped deck of the cruiser USS Toledo (CA-133) to successfully pluck a downed pilot trapped some 60 miles behind the enemy’s lines. He added a second Gold Star to his DFC in January 1952 while operating from USS Rochester (CV-124) for picking up two downed pilots just offshore of Hungnam– while under small arms fire from the edge of the beach– in two separate trips.
Just six months after the rescue of Prasae’s crew, Clementine, the helicopter used so successfully, UP 27 (BuNo. 122715), went missing on a rescue mission near Kosong, Korea, with her pilot killed and crewman taken prisoner. Luckily, Chief Thorin was not at the controls that day.
Thorin’s luck ran out in February 1952 when flying a whirlybird from Rochester on a mission to rescue an injured and critically ill Skyraider pilot off Valley Forge— LT(j.g) Harry Ettenger of VC-35– who was down behind enemy lines and being harbored by anti-Communist North Korean partisans. The mission, over known enemy anti-aircraft positions near Kojo, Korea, was almost successful, but at the last minute, Thorin’s helicopter crashed due to mechanical problems. Taken prisoner along with Ettenger, he was a resident of POW Camp 2 until his release during Operation Big Switch on 2 September 1953. He earned a Silver Star for the mission (recommended for the Navy Cross), adding to his three DFCs.
Thorin made over 130 rescues in hostile territory during the Korean War, not counting those from Prasae.
Thorin retired from the Navy in 1959 as a lieutenant and passed “feet dry” in 2002, aged 82. He is buried at Chambers Cemetery, Holt County, Nebraska, Block 1, Lot 35.
Thorin was used as the basis for CPO (NAP) Mike Forney, the enlisted CSAR pilot in The Bridges at Toko-Ri by Pulitzer Prize winner James Michener. Icon Mickey Rooney portrayed him in the movie adaptation, which was filmed in Technicolor in 1954 aboard the USS Oriskany (CV-34). Real UP-coded H-5s were used, and Rooney portrayed his based-on-a-real-story character well, albeit with a green tophat and scarf rather than Thorin’s more understated green ballcap.
That’s Hollywood for you.
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
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The U.S. Navy ocean minesweeper USS Lucid (MSO-458) underway in the Pacific Ocean, February 1970. Official U.S. Navy photo USN 1143191 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command
The Stockton Maritime Museum is currently restoring the USS Lucid (AM-458/MSO-458), the last of 53 Cold War-era Agile/Aggressive-class, ocean-going minesweepers in the U.S, and is “dedicated to honoring local sailors, shipbuilding companies & laborers, and maritime culture in Stockton, California.”
Built at the famous (for WWII LCVPs and PT boats) Higgins Yard in New Orleans, Lucid was commissioned on 4 May 1955 and only served 15 years in the fleet before she was mothballed and later disposed of in 1976. Used as a California houseboat and scrapyard headquarters hulk for over thirty years, the Stockton MM has been slowly restoring her since 2011.
They’ve come a long way and are trying to take it the extra mile.
Lucid circa 2011
Lucid today
Members of the museum last year visited Taiwan, where the Republic of China Navy allowed them to strip the recently decommissioned ROCS Yung Yang (MSO-1306)— the former Aggressive-class minesweeper USS Implicit (AM-455/MSO-455), to improve the Lucid.
“Navy moves a Gurkha Patrol in the Jungle, Malaysia, January 1966. A Naval Wessex Mk V (Sikorsky S-58) helicopter of 848 RN Air Squadron from the Centaur-class Commando Ship HMS Albion (R07), ascends from its pad after returning a Gurkha patrol to their jungle base.”
Image: IWM A 35005
The simmering Borneo “Konfrontasi” conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia, with the Soviet Union backing the Indonesians and the Commonwealth/West backing Malaysia, was one of the myriad proxy undeclared wars during the Cold War. Running some 42 months across 1963-66, the Commonwealth lost some 140 killed– about a third of those Gurkhas– against about four times as high a loss as felt by Jakarta.
No fewer than 44 Gurkha were killed and 83 wounded during the Konfrontasi.
Westland Belvedere HC.1 XG453 of No 66 Squadron Krokong, Sarawak Ghurkhas during the Indonesian Confrontation, 1964 IWM (RAF-T 5262)
Gurkha troops using a step ladder to climb aboard a Bristol Belvedere twin rotor helicopter of No. 66 Squadron RAF at Kuching, British Borneo, during operations in Indonesia. IWM (RAF-T 5257)
The Royal Brunei Gurkha Reserve Unit, established in 1974, is composed of former and retired military Gurkhas residing in the sultanate. They stand some 500 strong, and you can bet they stand ready to defend their now-homeland to their last breath.
The Singapore Police, meanwhile, maintain a 2,000-strong (not a misprint) Gurkha Contingent wholly separate from the British Army’s Brigade of Gurkhas “to provide a ‘strong-arm’ within the Police Force capable of quelling civil disturbance and carrying out specialist security tasks.”
Queen’s Royal Hussars, Petrovac, Bosnia, early 1996, an FV4030 Challenger 1 of 3rd Troop, A Squadron, and a FV107 Scimitar of RECCE Troop, with an AAC Lynx AH.7 overhead. In January 1996, the QRH was the first unit deployed in Challengers to Bosnia with NATO’s British-led Implementation Force.
Cold War veterans who served in the Falklands and Op Granby against Saddam, among other places, Lynx and Scimitar have long since been retired, while Challenger 1 has been superseded by Challenger 2 since 2001.
As for the QRH, today they are the senior-most armored regiment in the British Army, equipped with C2s, and are based at Assaye Barracks, Tidworth, since moving from Germany home (for technically the first time) in 2019.
Formed in 1993 from an amalgam of the Queen’s Own Hussars and the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars (both of which were formed from amalgamations of other historic cavalry regiments in 1958), the QRH and its myriad antecedents have been awarded 172 Battle Honours going back to 1685, and remember eight Victoria Cross holders, while observing Regimental days for Dettingen, Balaclava, and El Alamein.
Kittery, Maine (Dec. 12, 2025) — The improved Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Cheyenne (SSN 773) departs Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to conduct sea trials. The submarine underwent major repairs, structural inspections, and the replacement of mechanical and electrical systems, extending its service life and ensuring the Navy’s long-term fleet readiness. As America’s leader for attack submarine maintenance, repair, and modernization, PNSY is enhancing critical warfighting capabilities by safely delivering high-quality, on-budget, and on-time service to the fleet, ensuring warfighters are battle-ready when called upon. (US Navy photo by Branden Bourque)
The Los Angeles (SSN-688) class submarine is a thing of joy.
Sixty-two mother beautiful 7,000-ton 30-ish knot hunter killers that can carry a mixture of 37 torpedo/TLAM/Harpoon/Mines in their hull, with the latter half also having 12 VLS cells for a little added “room to boom.”
They were a big reason that, when coupled with the older Sturgeon-class “fish boats,” the Navy had 83 SSNs on the list in 1995, a fleet likely never surpassed in human history in terms of cutting-edge hunter killers.
Designed to run 30+ years with a midlife Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) that can take 2-4 years, done at about the 15-19 year mark, the 688s have a very long life planned. The preceding Sturgeons followed a shorter lifecycle, sans refueling but with a less comprehensive mid-life overhaul, but most still served 25 or more years in commission.
However, in the interest of saving a buck or billion, between 1995 and 2008, the Navy elected to lay up 11 of these dedicated underwater Swiss army knives at their midlife point, sending Los Angeles class sisters USS Baton Rouge, Omaha, Cincinnati, Groton, Birmingham, New York City, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Boston, Baltimore, and Atlanta to recycling after just 15 or so years in operation rather than springing for a RCOH. Another six boats (USS Portsmouth, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Rickover, Augusta, Honolulu, and Salt Lake City) inside the same period were retired in their early 20s–a full decade early– due to their previously planned RCOH cancelled.
So 17 of 62, just over one-quarter of the class, were given the pink slip while there was still work to be done. That works out to 225~ planned submarine years that just evaporated, and that is a lowball estimate. These were 225 years that were already promised by previous SECNAVs and CNOs, Congresses, and Presidents. On hulls that were already paid for by the taxpayers.
This left those 688s still on the payroll to work longer and harder. The two most recently decommissioned, USS Key West (SSN-722) and Helena (SSN-725), were in commission just over 38 years.
Sure, sure, you can argue that the billions saved by scrapping 17 gently used SSNs helped make the current 26 Virginia-class subs (which started construction in 2000) more affordable, but that program buildout is running behind schedule, and, counting both the 688s that were commissioned early and those that weren’t, 36 Los Angeles-class boats have been retired.
Today, the Navy just has 50-52 SSNs in service, with the force skewing to slightly more Virginias (24 commissioned, two delivered pending commissioning), followed by 23 remaining 688s, and three super secret duty Seawolves. This is expected to decline to around 40 or so as the 688s are being retired faster than the Viginias are being built (and Australia also wants some SSNs of their own)
Thus, you see the shortfall in SSN hulls available.
But wait, the Navy has pulled a tiny rabbit out of the hat by extending the service life of up to five Los Angeles SSNs to help mitigate the gap.
To that aim, USS Cheyenne (SSN 773), a Block III 688i and the last Los Angeles-class boat commissioned in 1996, last week completed its Engineered Refueling Overhaul availability as the first submarine to undergo an overhaul as part of the Service Life Extension Program — extending her total service life beyond 44 years.
The Cheyenne Project Team, encompassing various trade workers, engineers, and material support personnel at PNSY, worked alongside the ship’s crew to return Cheyenne back to the fleet as a battle-ready Navy asset — an achievement that advances the effort to close the gap in ready attack submarines. This milestone ensures the U.S. Submarine Force remains the most lethal, capable, and feared combat force in the world.
Make it make sense that the same Navy that killed 15-year-old members of Cheyenne’s class now wants her to keep prowling well past her 40s.
Different times and suffering from different crimes, I suppose.
Kittery, Maine (Dec. 12, 2025) — The improved Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Cheyenne (SSN 773) departs Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to conduct sea trials. The submarine underwent major repairs, structural inspections, and the replacement of mechanical and electrical systems, extending its service life and ensuring the Navy’s long-term fleet readiness. As America’s leader for attack submarine maintenance, repair, and modernization, PNSY is enhancing critical warfighting capabilities by safely delivering high-quality, on-budget, and on-time service to the fleet, ensuring warfighters are battle-ready when called upon. (US Navy photo by Branden Bourque)
My “good condition” FBP m/968 bayonet. At some 11.75 inches long overall, it has a dagger-style point and double edged 7-inch blade with a steel scabbard. It is probably the most “fighting knife” oriented bayonet I have ever encountered.
Note the lack of a muzzle ring and a very Mauser-style (though it will not fit a Mauser) locking mechanism on the rear. I also love the fact that it has wood grip panels rather than plastic, a rarity in a Cold War-era bayonet.
Notice the similarities between the m/948 bayonet and the German-made Portuguese Mauser M937A Rifle bayonet
These were all made between 1948 and 1988, with the bulk in the 1960s. As such, they popped up in several African hot spots in any number of hands and are still sometimes encountered on the continent.
What was the m/948?
Portugal, which suffered over 30,000 casualties serving with its British allies in the Great War, rearmed in the 1930s with what eventually turned into 150,000 German-made (and Swazi-marked) Mauser-Werke AG Oberndorf 98K bolt-action rifles (adopted as the Espingarda Mod.937). These were augmented by Steyr MP-34 sub guns dubbed the Pistola Metralhadora (machine pistol) m/938 (in 7.65 mm) and m/942 (in 9 mm).
While they largely sat out WWII but aligned with London and Washington (keeping Franco’s Spain neutral in the process), the Cold War soon came around, and Portugal was one of the original 12 NATO alliance members in 1949. This meant the country needed to modernize its forces should it be forced to fight the Soviets.
This need was kicked into overdrive when all of Portugal’s overseas territories slowly slid into revolt– with a little help from Moscow. What followed was the 13-year (February 1961 to April 1974) Guerra do Ultramar (The Overseas War), spent fighting Communist-backed insurgent guerrillas in the country’s African colonies of Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau, as well as in East Timor and Goa in the Indian Ocean.
In other words, the Portuguese needed new guns. Lots of them.
Some 800,000 Portuguese military and colonial paramilitary members fought in the Guerra do Ultramar during the Cold War, with an average of 100,000 deployed overseas at any given time. To arm these troops, Lisbon’s Fábrica Militar de Braço de Prata (FBP) factory began licensed production of HK G3 (Espingarda Automática m/961) rifles and HK21 (m/968) machine guns in 7.62 NATO, as well as a locally designed m/968 60mm patrol mortar, and the m/948 sub-machine gun.
The Portuguese also purchased small numbers of Belgian-made FN FALs (13,470, designated the m/962) and Dutch-made AR-10s (about 4,500, designated m/961) to help fill their needs until the home-built HKs came online. As you can see, all was well within the NATO extended family.
Designed in the late 1940s by Portuguese artillery Major Gonçalves Cardoso, the FBP m/948 was a simple blow-back action 9mm open bolt SMG that borrowed elements from the German MP40 (bolt and recoil assembly, barrel and nut design), British STEN (mags, mag release, ejector), and the American M3 Grease Gun (stock, sights, grip, etc). The imitation is so complete that m/948 bolts can apparently be used in MP40s as a drop-in replacement, and the gun readily accepts STEN mags.
The FBP m/948 was a simple spot-welded “tube gun” made from inexpensive stampings that borrowed from the MP40, STEN, and M3. This intact model in the IWM collection, IWM (FIR 10392)
Production was only about 20-30,000 guns, mostly in the 1960s, and they were issued primarily to NCOs, commandos, and guards– which meant they were also often captured and used against Portuguese units as well.
These production numbers from FBP are available:
“In 1963, 11,867 G-3s and 5,572 FBP submachine guns were manufactured; in 1964, there were 23,724 and 6,561; in 1969, the numbers were 45,660 and 694. In total, until 1988, the factory produced 442,197 G3 and 19,113 FBP submachine guns.” (Pinto, Renato. Portugal and Weapons – A History of Small Arms and Military Industries. Colibri, 2024.)
Guerrillas of the PAIGC on Como Island with a motley accumulation of weapons, including PPsh, PPS, and FBP SMGs. The PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) was a communist organization formed in 1956 and openly backed by the Soviets.
A Portuguese air force T-6 Texan, and a Dornier Do 27, atCazombo field, Angola, guarded by a sentinel with an FBP. The Portuguese used an amazing 250 T-6s and 150 Do-27s in the African Bush Wars, being an ideal combo for COIN and transport/liaison work from small fields.
Note the distinctive bayonet lug on the m/948 and its STEN mag.
The gun was made in a semi-auto variant (m/963) as well as one with a cooling sleeve around the barrel (m/976).
The FBP factory later became part of the unified national defense industries system (INDEP) and closed its doors in the early 1990s, with its last product being the even simpler blowback action Lusa submachine gun, which, designed to replace the m/948, was never put into production; its technical data package was sold to U.S. investors and faded into history.
It seems Portugal has been finally disposing of the last m/948s on hand over the past 10-12 years, and, while I’ve seen the bayonets pop up as components of torched parts kits, seeing them by themselves in good condition for under $100 was a no-brainer.
