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The Influence of the United States Military Policiesfor the Republic of Korea upon the ROKNaval Power during the Korean War -Focused on the Organization and Unit, Warship and Equipment-

임성채 1

1명지대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

With the end of World WarⅡ, the United States(US) occupied South Korea and passively supported South Korea with military assistance after due consideration of the political and military dynamic relationship with the Communist power. After North Korean People's Army(NKPA) invasion broke out in 1950 in the Korean Peninsula, the US judged it as a challenge from the Communist power and dispatched troops, supported the Republic of Korea(ROK) with military assistance actively. The US received a commission of operational control authority from United Nations and conducted a war with the United Nations(UN) Forces under the command of the US to achieve the objective of war which was to repulse the NKPA behind the 38th Parallel and regain the territories. The US established the operational command system, and chose a direct military assistance method by the US Forces such as tanks, warships, aircraft, ammunition and oil for the participant in a war at the local areas in order to attain the objective of war effectively. In this way, the military policies for the ROK that the US carried out during the war had an impact on the development of ROK Naval Power. 1. The factor of the ROK Navy’s development of organization and unit is the operational command system of the United Nations Forces. The ROK Navy, as a UN Navy’s subordinate unit, reorganized its formation and units linking the operational command system of the UN Navy. The characteristic is reorganization for sea area operations and component operations suitable to maximum naval power demonstration and harmonious combined operation accomplishment. 2. The key factor of the reinforcement of the ROK Navy’s warships and equipments is a direct military assistance by US Forces and Combined Operations of the UN Navy. The ROK Navy, as far as the country was concerned in war, needed the combat means to accomplish the combined operation actively, also the US Navy had no choice but to support the military aids directly for the ROK Forces to conduct a war rapidly. The benefits corresponded from both sides, the ROK Navy was able to obtain a variety of warships and equipments from the US Navy. At the Armistice the ROK Navy was armed with many kinds of warships that made component operations possible, which the minesweeper was the main warship before the war broke out. As the reinforcement of each part strength, the operational accomplishment ability of the ROK Navy was improved within three years remarkably. It can be said that the ROK Navy experienced a great development by turning the level from “Inshore territorial defense naval power” before the war broke out into “Offshore territorial defense naval power” at the Armistice. This evaluation is based on the ability of accomplishing operations offshore with the aspects of the tonnage and equipment of the Frigate(PF) which was the main warship. At the same time, the quantity of warship increased to 66% more than before the war broke out, and the ROK Navy possessed many kinds of warships that were able to accomplish component operations. As a result, the Korean War was the crucial turning point in the development of the ROK Navy from a historical point of view. Because the ROK Navy was able to have the ability to defend its own territorial waters independently as a sovereign nation due to the US policies and support during the war.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.