Absent the great sweeping battles of World War II just a few years earlier, the Navy’s role in the Korean War is often underappreciated. Yet the United States would have been unable to intervene when communist forces invaded South Korea in June 1950 were it not for U.S. Navy sea power that guaranteed passage to that troubled part of the world. And, in the early days of the war when American and South Korean forces were being pushed southward in a near rout, it was the Navy that was able to slow the North Korean advance and to prevent the beleaguered forces from being pushed into the sea.
As the war progressed, another key element of sea power turned the tide on more than one occasion. Ironically, that element had been seen by many as no longer relevant in modern warfare. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, when so much reevaluation was in the air, there were those who saw the chief threats to future security—the Soviet Union and Communist China—as primarily land (versus maritime) powers. Coupled with the advent of atomic weapons, radical new views were emerging that included calls for the disestablishment of the U.S. Marine Corps and the abandonment of amphibious warfare capability.
Students of the Korean War know that a major turning point in the conflict occurred when General Douglas MacArthur ignored the emerging “wisdom” of the day by ordering an amphibious landing at Inchon, hundreds of miles behind enemy lines, which caught the North Koreans completely off guard and sent them reeling back up the Korean Peninsula in a headlong retreat.
What is not well known is that much of the credit for the success of that brilliant operation belongs to then-Rear Admiral James H. Doyle. As commander of Amphibious Group One, Doyle and his staff translated MacArthur’s visionary strategy into a real-world operation that defied the odds and overcame many great obstacles.
The landing at Inchon successfully surprised the North Koreans because they believed that an amphibious operation there was impossible—for good reasons. The only approach to the port city was a narrow, winding channel that was not only difficult to navigate but could be blocked by the sinking of a single ship. The range of tides at Inchon was the second greatest in the world, which would require exquisite timing and an impressive blend of courage and innovation if the assault forces were to have a reasonable chance of success. Doyle’s planning and execution, coupled with the extraordinary courage of the Marines who spearheaded the attack, turned the tide of war at a critical moment, making Inchon one of the most impressive feats in military history.
But that triumphant landing would not be Doyle’s only achievement in Korea. Just three months after the success at Inchon, after U.N. forces pushed the North Koreans up the peninsula, they were driven back by the intervention of Communist Chinese forces. Reminiscent of the “miracle at Dunkirk,” Doyle and his staff successfully pulled off an amphibious evacuation at Hungnam, extricating more than 100,000 U.N. troops who would live to fight another day.
Admiral Doyle twice played an unsung but vital role in the Korean War. Perhaps more significant, he also successfully silenced those “visionaries” who had myopically called for the end of amphibious warfare.