Hardcover, cobalt blue cloth cover, with paper dust jacket, entitled "Canadian Naval Operations in Korean Waters 1950-1955" by Naval Historical Officer Thor Thorgrimsson and Naval Historian E.C. Russell, copyrighted by Crown Copyrights, Roger Duhamel, F.R.S.C. (Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada), Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery of Ottawa, Canada in 1965, Catalogue No. DB3-9265. It is stamped in black ink with the previous owner's name on the cover page. As stated on the dust jacket: "For three full years and more, the Korean "police action" - a war in all but name - raged throughout the length and breadth of that unhappy country known to its people as the Land of the Morning Calm. For three years a division of Canadian destroyers served with the naval forces of the United Nations, engaging in what was undoubtedly one of the most unusual naval campaigns in history - a campaign in which the ships of the UN never even sighted an enemy craft worthy of the name of warship. This book tells the story of the Canadian destroyers in this peculiar war and describes how they duelled with the sharpshooting Chinese gunners of Amgak and Wonsan; how they shepherded fleets of little wooden junks and sampans filled with wild guerillas. going raiding in the ancient Viking fashion; how they bore aid and secour to starving Korean islanders whose livelihood had been destroyed by war. It describes the monotony of interminable carrier-screening missions and the excitement of hazardous blockade or island-defence patrols carried out in blinding snow squalls and biting winds anong the rocky shoals and mud banks of the Korean west coast. The book tells, too, how one of Canada's destroyers won Task Force 95's coveted "Trainbusting Championship" in competition with the ships of all the United Nations and how another Canadian ship, in a more mundane sphere, won yet another championship in the "Yellow Sea Fuelling Stakes." The story of Canada's navy in Korea is the theme of the book, but the broader history of the war is not forgotten. The epic struggles on land, in the air and at the conference table, and the effects of these struggles on the naval war, are kept before the reader throughout." A note on page ii states: "In the writing of this volume the authors have been given full access to relevant official documents in possession of the Department of National Defence; but the inferences drawn and the opinions expressed are those of the authors themselves, and the Department is in no way responsible for the reading or presentation of the facts as stated." The book features five maps: a map entitled "Pengyong-Do to the Haeju-Man" on page 86, the inside front cover with two maps (one of Korea in relation to East Asia, the other with a map of Korea with important places marked on it), the inside back cover with two large close-up maps of Central Korea with the headings "Task Elements and Patrol Areas, West Coast Korea - March, 1952" and "Task Elements and Patrol Areas, East Coast Korea - March, 1952", respectively. It begins with a Table of Contents, followed by a Preface, Bibliographical Notes and is divided into eleven chapters: I - "Three Ships West"; II - From Pusan to the Yalu; III - The Chinese Intervention; IV - Stopping the Chinese; V - Offensive and Counter Offensive Ashore; VI - The Island Campaign Begins; VII - Defending the "Friendly Islands"; VIII - Mainly in the Haeju-Man; IX - Stalemate on the "Island Front"; X - "Trainbusting" on the East Coast; XI - The Uneasy Truce. It concludes with ten Appendices (A - Organization, Administration and Supply of the RCN Destroyers in the Korean Theatre; B - Senior Officers of the Canadian Destroyers in the Far East 1950-1955; C - Service of HMC Ships to Korean Waters; D - Honours and Awards for Service by Officers and Men of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Korean Theatre, 1950-1955; E - The Command Organization, UN Naval Forces, Korea, 19 February to 3 April, 1951; F - The Command Organization, UN Naval Forces, Korea, 10 April, 1951; G - Organization of Task Group 95.1 on the West Coast of Korea, Effective 1 January 1953; H - Bibliography; I - Diagram - Periods of Service of HMC Destroyers in Korean Waters; J - Glossary of Technical Terms and Abbreviations) and an extensive thirteen page Index. The book contains 176 pages printed in black ink, loaded with descriptive text and multiple photographs, on a white paper stock, the five maps printed in cyan and cream-coloured inks, measuring 213 mm (w) x 277 mm (h) x 16 mm (d). It exhibits foxing on the top of the pages, with wear and scuffing present on the paper dust jacket, the pages of the book remaining pristine. Better than very fine.
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