During the early spring of 1951 the U.S.S. Manchester (CL-83) was engaged in the naval siege of Wonsan, Korea. Our mission was to stop all traffic moving along the coastal roads and rail lines to the front and to deny the use of Wonsan to the enemy. To accomplish this mission the Manchester and other ships of Rear Admiral Allan E. Smith’s Task Force 95 entered Wonsan Harbor, anchored on a firing line only a few thousand yards from the powerful enemy positions on Raima Gak, and commenced a round-the-clock bombardment that lasted for several months. Quite often the enemy, fed up with the one sided fight, would open fire with their well concealed shore batteries and the duel between ship and shore would continue until the enemy had been silenced.
For this reason most ships made it a practice to break their anchor chains immediately after anchoring to allow the slipping of their anchors in the shortest possible time when under heavy fire. Wonsan Harbor has a soft mud bottom and every time an anchor was slipped, days of hard and dangerous work were required of fleet salvage vessels in order to recover it.
To prevent the loss of our own anchor and to allow us to recover it ourselves in the event that we were forced to abandon it, the Commanding Officer of the Manchester, Captain Lewis S. Parks, asked for suggestions. The result was the following method devised by Chief Boatswain Fred A. Cosme of the Manchester. It showed such promise that it was passed on to all ships in the Wonsan area and it should be of interest to all seamen who may find themselves in a similar situation.
After the anchor had been dropped with the normal anchor buoy attached and a suitable scope of anchor chain led out, a 5/8" wire (3/8" wire is adequate for destroyers) with an eye splice was led through the hawse pipe from outboard and passed around the stud of a link near the detachable link to be removed. The wire was then secured on itself with a shackle and the chain veered so that the wire was clear of the hawse pipe. The wire was led to the forecastle, faked down, and stopped off outboard of the lifeline stanchions. The end was then secured to a buoy capable of floating the wire. An inflated seaplane buoy was found very satisfactory for this purpose. After veering, the chain was stopped off and broken. Should the stoppers be knocked off to slip the anchor chain, the weight of the chain would carry the entire rig overboard.
To recover the anchor, the ship has only to pick up the buoyed wire, lead it through the hawse pipe to the capstan, and heave in until the bight of chain is on deck. The chain is then stopped off, the detachable link replaced, and the wire removed.
The chief advantages of this method are: (1) No assistance is required from other ships or boats. (2) No divers are required. (3) No time consuming search for the chain is necessary. (4) The anchor and anchor chain can be recovered even if completely sunk in mud or otherwise inaccesible to dragging or divers. (5) The wire is connected near the break in the chain, allowing the detachable link to be replaced with ease on deck.
The principal disadvantage is that due to the time involved, the gear must be attached before the emergency arises. If, however, the emergency can be reasonably foreseen, as in our case of enemy shore battery fire, the gear and methods just described will prove very useful.