Gearing-class destroyer USS Floyd B. Parks bombarding Wonsan with 5-inch shells in September 1951

The blockade of Wonsan during the Korean War lasted from February 16th 1951 to July 27th 1953 and was was the longest naval blockade in modern history, for a total of 861 days. United Nations naval forces, primarily from the United States, kept the strategically important city of Wonsan from being used by the North Korea Navy.

A significant goal was achieved by maintaining a blockade against hostile territory for so long. UN naval forces inflicted heavy casualties on the North Korean forces while sustaining comparatively few casualties of their own. The North Korean artillery defending Wonsan was mostly ineffective, with vast quantities of shells wasted that would have been useful supporting troops on land. As a result of the fighting, Wonsan was destroyed and remained so for years after the blockade, but due to its location, it was eventually rebuilt and is still an important strategic point today.

USS Floyd B. Parks (DD-884) was a Gearing-class destroyer in service with the United States Navy from 1945 to 1973. She operated with the Seventh Fleet in support of United Nations Forces during the Korean War, sailing from San Diego of February 19th 1951 towards the Korean coast. On March 16th she joined the fast carrier task force, screening them during air operations off the east coast as well as spending a total of 60 days in Wonsan Harbor on blockade and bombardment duty. She returned to San Diego on October 10th 1951, and after west coast operations, sailed for duty in the Far East again on May 31st 1952. Along with duty similar to that of her first war cruise, she patrolled in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

The Gearing-class was armed with the three twin 5-inch/38 caliber Mark 38 dual purpose mounts as the main battery. The 5-inch guns were guided by a Mark 37 Gun Fire Control System with a Mark 25 fire control radar linked by a Mark 1A Fire Control Computer stabilized by a Mark 6 8,500 rpm gyro. This fire control system provided effective long-range anti-aircraft or anti-surface fire.

As the guns fired semi-fixed ammunition, each round is delivered to the gun from the magazines in two pieces, a projectile and a powder case.

The ready service ammunition is kept in the upper handling room just below the mount. The projectile travels up to the gun room (also called the gun house) through an electric-hydraulic hoist. It arrives next to the projectile-man nose down and waist high. If the projectile has a time fuze, the fuze is automatically set as it goes up the hoist, and the hoist maintains the ordered fuze setting from the fire control system as long as the projectile stays in the hoist. The powder case is sent up through a powder scuttle in the gun room's deck just next to the powder man's feet. It arrives with its base up, and the primer covered with a protector called the "Butterfly". The men in the upper handling room hand carry the projectiles and powder cases from the ready service racks to the lower ends of the hoists while avoiding the equipment hanging down from the rotating mount.

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