Escape by sea: the Hungnam redeployment

Joint Force Quarterly, Spring-Summer, 2001 by Donald Chisholm

The two great military extractions from the beach of the 20th century occurred at Dunkerque in 1940 and Hungnam in 1950. In both cases a large number of troops were withdrawn in the face of superior enemy strength. And although they are often invoked in the same breath, Hungnam may be the more impressive. Conducted by Rear Admiral James Doyle, Commander, Combined Task Force 90 (CTF 90), the operation was a true redeployment.

The tally was staggering: 105,000 troops, 91,000 civilians, 17,500 vehicles, and 350,000 tons of supplies were pulled from Hungnam. When the port was closed on Christmas Eve 1950, all facilities were blown up and nothing was left to the advancing communists. (1) By every standard, the redeployment was a success on the tactical, operational, and strategic levels.

Into a Doctrinal Void

Notwithstanding their amphibious capabilities, the Navy and Marine Corps were geared to assaults, not extractions. Experience during World War II included no such reversals, though it was thought that some operations were in doubt (such as Buna and Biak in New Guinea and Salerno in Italy) and evacuation might be required. Extant amphibious doctrine only provided for planning and organizing assaults. Thus commanders on the scene had neither specific doctrine nor comparable experience to guide their decisionmaking.

Hungnam presents an ill-structured problem. It is not that these conundrums have no structure, rather that decisionmakers cannot discern it. Problems are distinguished by the degree to which their constituent parts and relationships among those parts are understood. Typically, ill-structured problems are those not encountered previously in exactly the same form and for which no predetermined and explicitly ordered responses exist.

Such problems seldom stand still while decisionmakers try to impose a structure on them. Their components and interrelationships may change enough in a short time to make initial attempts to grasp them obsolete. This was the case in Korea. The strategic situation evolved rapidly, altering tactical decisions and, accordingly, operational problems for the Navy.

The magnitude of the Hungnam problem had to be discerned and reevaluated before as well as during execution. Just as such quandaries do not admit to computational solutions, neither are they effectively solved with hierarchical organizations. Instead they are best addressed by decentralized, self-organizing systems in which discretion resides at many points and experts are permitted to exercise judgment, principally through lateral communication.

But the learning curve is steep. Trial and error are the means of generating information and reducing uncertainty, converting something vague into a well-structured problem. This claim runs contrary to the conventional wisdom on command relations. But Admiral Doyle clearly understood the challenges posed by ill-structured issues and connections between the type of problem and appropriate command relations. He proceeded accordingly.

War for Command

After the Wonsan-Iwon operation in 1950, Doyle told Vice Admiral Charles Turner Joy, Commander, Naval Forces, Far East, that he would not serve under Vice Admiral Arthur Struble, Commander of Seventh Fleet, in the future. When the time came to organize for Hungnam--a plan for the evacuation of U.N. forces was issued on November 13--Joy acceded to Doyle on the grounds that he needed him more than Struble. Doyle reported directly to Joy and enjoyed significant discretion. His duties were quite broad and included redeployment, shipping protection, control of air support and naval gunfire in embarkation areas, and maintenance of the blockade along the east coast of Korea.

Admiral Forrest Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations, was uncomfortable about giving such authority to Doyle. He feared disaster if the evacuation went awry. Sherman had already told Joy that he favored Struble for Inchon and Wonsan. In particular, Sherman was unwilling to pass control of fast carriers to an amphibious commander. Sherman arranged for Lieutenant General Lemuel Shepherd, Commander, Fleet Marine Force Pacific, to assume command of the Hungnam operation if Doyle proved ineffective. For his part, Doyle found that "Sherman knew little, if anything, about amphibious operations."

Despite Sherman's concern, the decision by Joy stood. Doyle had considerable leeway in the redeployment, including command of amphibious ships, naval gunfire, and Marine ground-based air as well as carrier aircraft. He coordinated additional naval gunfire and air support with Struble. Joy adopted a hands-off policy and his command served largely in a supporting role for CTF 90 in the redeployment. Arrangements also allowed Seventh Fleet to maneuver as necessary should an air- or sea-based threat develop against Japan or Formosa. The Air Force did not provide air-ground support to X Corps though it contributed night heckler coverage. In addition, its transport resources were essential to evacuating the wounded from Chosin.