--- title: "Here’s what happened when North Korea actually hit an American battleship" date: "2025-04-22" modified: "2026-05-11" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/tactical/heres-what-happened-when-north-korea-actually-hit-an-american-battleship/" categories: - "History" - "Korean War" - "Navy" - "Ships" - "Tactical" - "War History" tags: - "America250" - "Korean War" - "Military History" - "Navy" --- # Here’s what happened when North Korea actually hit an American battleship ![uss wisconsin korean war temper temper navy]() *USS Wisconsin fires a three-gun salvo from her forward gun turret during bombardment duty off Korea, 1952. (National Archives)* By 1952, the Korean War wasn’t going well for the North Koreans. The war had ground in a stalemate at the 38th parallel, but that fact had nothing to do with anything the North Koreans had planned. Kim Il-Sung and his regime survived only because of Chinese intervention and Soviet airpower, but the United States and United Nations air forces were still wreaking havoc on North Korean cities and infrastructure. **Also Read: [Gruesome ax murders in the Korean DMZ almost started another Korean War]()** North Korea fared no better at sea. The Korean People’s Navy had not even a fraction of the preparation the Korean Army did when the North Korean started the war in June 1950. Back then, it was mostly shallow-water torpedo boats, patrol boats, and small gunboats with some submarines. It was a far cry from the two-ocean, two-front U.S. Navy that the North Koreans were facing on the high seas. Even the communist country’s shore batteries couldn’t match American firepower, as one unlucky North Korean gun crew found out when they [actually scored a hit]() on the USS Wisconsin, a formidable battleship, even in the days before Tomahawk missiles. ![uss wisconsin battleship korean war history]() *And even after Tomahawk missiles. Just ask the Iraqis. (U.S. Navy)* After World War II, the USS Wisconsin found itself in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, but nothing will revive a ship’s status on active duty like an explosive war against the communists. The Wisconsin was respawned almost immediately after the war in Korea began and was recommissioned by March of 1951 and was off the Korean coastline by November. There, it was assigned to bombard enemy troop concentrations, artillery positions and basically anything else that stood between the UN ground forces and their objectives. Needless to say, it was a remarkable deterrent for any gunboat, smuggler, or other enemy ship and took almost no enemy fire during her entire stay in the Korean peninsula. Almost. The one exception came on March 15, 1953. That’s when the Wisconsin was hit by a North Korean shore battery. Guns from the “Big Wisky” were shelling North Korean infantry positions, troop trains, and even a tunnel for those trains when the communists had the audacity to actually return fire. A Soviet-made 152mm artillery shell hit the Wisconsin amidship on its port side. The direct hit shattered Wisconsin’s teak wood planking, shattered the shield of a 40mm gun mount and wounded three sailors. No one aboard the American battleship was killed and the North Koreans didn’t follow up on their hit—which is probably for the best, considering how the crew of the Wisconsin replied to the hit. ![uss wisconsin korean war damage]() *(U.S. Navy)* The Wisconsin fired a full salvo from all nine of its 16-inch mark-7 guns at the crew that fired the shot, lobbing nine 2,700-pound shells onto the gun battery. It’s highly unlikely the North Korean gun crew survived their encounter with the Iowa-class battleship’s primary weapons, considering how a full barrage could potentially sink an armored aircraft carrier. The Wisconsin’s reply was so lopsided that the USS Buck, a Sumner-class destroyer, was [said to have signaled the Wisconsin]() the message, “Temper Temper.” Neither the North Koreans nor the Chinese would hit the Big Wisky for the rest of the Korean War, which is good news for anyone who might have to be a target for the battleship's return fire. By the time the Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, the USS Wisconsin was a training ship for midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy. It's now a museum ship in Norfolk, Virginia. ### Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty **• [The top US fighter ace of World War II Europe was almost rejected as a pilot twice]()** **• [The combat jumps of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team in Korea]()** **• [An unrepentant 95-year-old North Korean POW wants to walk back across the DMZ]()** ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()