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This day in naval history,  the USS Wisconsin was operating off the coast of Korea. The USS Wisconsin was an Iowa-class battleship that was placed into service during WWII and had been recently placed into the naval reserves and set for decommission. This all changed during the start of the Korean War, and the ship was back on her way to the Pacific.

The Wisconsin was shelling a North Korean encampment ahead of an amphibious assault by the U.S. Marines. The encampment received such a shelling that it collapsed the underground supply route the North Koreans had developed. This cut off supplies and prevented any reinforcements being sent to counter the landing American forces. The North Korean forces retaliated, firing a 155mm gun battery and striking the starboard (right) side 40 mm gun mount. The hit to the battleship caused three Sailors to sustain injury, but no lives were lost, the ship had significant damage but was able to continue its mission.

Enraged by the attack and bloodthirsty for retribution, the crew of the USS Wisconsin turned all nine of of its Mark 7 16-inch guns to the location where the initial impact had come from. To put this into perspective, a single shell was almost 3 times the size of the Korean’s shell (16 inches being roughly 400mms), each capable of slinging a 2,700 pound shell to a target over 20 miles away. All guns fired, rocking the ship and emitting a mighty roar. After the smoke cleared, it was obvious the salvo had not gotten rid of the Korean position, but it had completely eliminated the entire hill the position was on.

The USS Duncan who was escorting the Wisconsin had witnessed the events and signaled ‘Temper, temper,’ a nod to the overwhelming and fierce response to the Wisconsin’s barrage.  The Wisconsin would be retired again after the Korean war, only to be reactivated and refitted again by Reagan, and again be used in 1991 to shell Iraqi locations and launched Tomahawk missiles against Iraqi targets during Desert Storm. Being decommissioned finally during the Gulf War in 1991, it now is a living museum in the Hampton Roads area in Virginia.