History
Seaman 1st Class "Salty" Smith was in the United States Navy during the Korean War. He frequently got into altercations with soldiers in the People's Liberation Army of China along with his best friend, Petty Officer "Battleship" Burk.
Their earliest recorded appearance occurred in October of 1950, where the pair diverted an enemy seamine field that was along the course an infantry ship that was due through the area.[1] On December 10, 1950 occurred during downtime while Battleship and Salty were among the soldiers in Admiral Doyle's navy amphibious fleet that were waiting in Hangnam Harbor to proceed on a mission to rescue 1st Division marines retreating from the Changjin Reservoir. Battleship and Salty went to shore where they clashed with Chinese forces under the command of Hangnam Hannah who had set up a massive artillery cannon on skis to allow it to freely move and attack their fleet. Battleship and Salty managed to steal the cannon and dump it in the ocean, allowing Naval forces to destroy Chinese forces in the area and rescue the troops.[2] On December 15th of that year, the pair assisted Navy and GI forces land on the heavily fortified Inchon Harbor.[3] Later that month, Battleship and Smith were sent to capture an enemy ship and found themselves captured by the Chinese instead. However they broke out of their cell with the help of South Korean freedom fighter Hoon Sik-Soon, who later sacrificed his life to stop the Chinese from destroying the nearby American battleship.[4]
Given 12 hour leave in Seoul, Battleship and Salty were captured by Red Mary and taken aboard her flee of junk ships armed with guns. She tried to force the pair to pilot their fleet through Naval sea mines, instead Burke led them to the destroyer he was stationed on and the pair abandoned ship as Red Mary's fleet was blasted out of the water.[5] Later, Battleship and Salty were captured by a Chinese sub while returning from shore leave in Seoul. They were then forced to load torpedos to attack their own ships, but instead sabotaged the torpedoes to boomerang back at the sub and escape.[6] Not long after, while on another shore leave, they were charged with returning a "secret package" back to their ship. En route, they were captured by the forces of T'ao Kuk and brought to his hidden base. Having stashed the "secret package", Battleship and Salty broke free and sabotaged Kuk's base and escape with their package. Upon returning to their ship they were shocked to learn the "secret" they were protecting was nothing more than a box of ice cream, which had melted during their daring escape.[7]
In August of 1952, Battleship and Salty were on shore leave so that Burke could deliver a present to his brother Shannon from their mother. Shannon was a member of the US Army and upon learning that Shannon and his commanding officer were captured by the enemy. Burke and Smith used their know how to help Shannon's unit rescue the prisoners and destroy a communist dam.[8] In June of the following year, Battleship and Salty were tricked into going to the mainland where reports of Navy men being captured by enemy soldiers were being reported. However they were betrayed by the woman who led them there and taken prisoners themselves. However the woman soon rescued the pair, revealing that she worked with the communists because they had her son prisoner. Learning that enemy soldiers were going to try and infiltrate their command ship by wearing their stolen uniforms, Battleship and Salty rushed to the nearby peer just in time to see the ship sink as Salty had the forethought to remove the bailing plug from the ship before they were captured.[9]
Battleship and Salty were later sent to pick up the admiral's daughter from the Seoul airport. However the trio were captured by enemy troops and Salty was released to ransom off Battleship and the admiral's daughter in the hopes of leading the battleship into a trap. However Burke and the admiral's daughter managed to break free and signal the ship warning it of the trap.[10] Later the pair were ordered to recover a sunken enemy ship which contained information on the enemy that could turn the tide of the war. The duo fought sharks, an octopus and enemy skin-divers in order to recover the plans, a major victory for the United Nations during the Korean War. Later the pair struck another major blow to the Chinese army when they posed as communist soldiers and single handedly destroyed the enemy base in Chunchow.[11] Shortly thereafter the pair found themselves diving into the ocean once more, this time under orders to recover an enemy plane that they shot down. While on this operation Burke and Salty managed to incapacitate a mini-sub. Later while on three day shore leave, Burke and Salty accepted a challenge from two US Army soldiers to fight with them on the front line, and assisted in destroying an enemy ammo dump in a flooded rice paddy.[12] The pair later prevented an attempt by captured communist soldiers from taking over their ship. In their last recorded appearance, Battleship and Salty were on leave and passed the time by joining a group of American, British, Ethiopian and Turkish soldiers in capturing an army of communist soldiers.[13]
Battleship and Salty had many other adventures on land and sea during the remainder of the Korean War.