- Operation Combat Fox
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The USS Pueblo, the capture of which lead to the initiation of Operation Combat Fox
On 23 January 1968 North Korean patrol boats supported by two MiG-21 fighters captured the USS Pueblo northeast of the North Korean island of Ung-do.[1] The seizure of the Pueblo lead to President Lyndon Johnson ordering a show of force with a massive deployment of U.S. air and navy assets to Korea. The airlift and deployment of 200+ aircraft was code named Operation Combat Fox[2] while the deployment of six aircraft carriers plus support vessels was code named Operation Formation Star.[3] The operations were supported by the partial mobilization of reservists for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.[3] CIA A-12 Oxcart reconnaissance overflights over North Korea were used to monitor a feared retaliatory mobilization of North Korean forces and when these flights revealed no mobilization or large scale deployments by North Korean forces, Operation Combat Fox forces were stood down.[4]
Notes
References
- Bolger, Daniel (1991). Scenes from an Unfinished War: Low intensity conflict in Korea 1966–1969. Diane Publishing Co. ISBN 9780788112089. http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/bolger/bolger.asp.
- Jacobson, Annie (2011). Area 51. London: Orion Publishing. ISBN 9781409141136.
Categories:- Conflicts in 1968
- 1968 in North Korea
- 1968 in the United States
- Combat incidents
- Military history of North Korea
- North Korea–United States relations
- Korean Demilitarized Zone
- Wars involving North Korea
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