Horace A. Bass succeeded Wantuck as the SMG operational platform, and her introduction to the CIA-sponsored activity was pure cloak and dagger. On April 20, 1952, the APD arrived at Pusan's outer harbor on hurry-up orders. Her commanding officer, Commander Lefteris Lefty Lavrakas, sent his boat officer, Lieutenant Hilary D. Mahin, ashore with orders to proceed to a certain phone booth, dial a certain number at a specific time and ask for Jack. Mahin's reply was to be Discount Jig, Bass' call sign. Jack gave Mahin a series of numbers that turned out to be coordinates for Yong Do. There, Lefty, Hi Mahin and other ship's officers met with Kramer, Atcheson and Pagnella for a mission briefing. The mission was similar to earlier ones except that top priority was given to capturing North Korean transportation workers with knowledge about ID cards. The CIA had learned that the North Koreans regularly changed card stamps and paper colors, which meant that operatives forging IDs for South Korean agents needed information.

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As before, the SMG area of operations was the northeast coast of Korea, above the 38th parallel. It ran from the Manchurian border south to Pohang–rugged, mountainous territory with a railroad hugging the coast. Access to rail bridges and tunnels was afforded by medium-size beaches, nearly all of them abutting small fishing villages. Lack of harbors or inlets made them dangerous targets, as did coastal countercurrents.

Following a dress rehearsal at Chumunjin, Atcheson, Pagnella, O Pak and the SMG guerrillas embarked in Bass, which steamed north toward Target No. 1 on the evening of April 21. Commander Lavrakas began his run, closing to within 6,200 yards of the beach. In calm seas with moderate swells, general quarters was sounded and boats were launched at 2230. The mission officer in charge, Lieutenant Atcheson, rode in the command boat, PR-3, along with John Chun and Lieutenant Mahin, with eight guerrilla-laden rubber boats in tow. Adding ballast to the command boat were the demolitions for the raid: 120-pound Mark-133 and 80-pound Mark-1350 charges for tunnels, bridges and tracks.

Once the tow was released, O Pak's men paddled to within 200 yards of the beach, then paused to await the signal from the swimmer scouts. They were greeted by rifle and machine-gun fire and grenades, but managed to withdraw. Atcheson, hearing gunfire, didn't hesitate. Ordering PR-4 to accompany him, he closed to within 150 yards of the beach while .30-caliber machine gunners in the other PRs provided cover fire. Leaving PR-4 on station, he took PR-3 and stalwart coxswain Ken Eckert, with some rubber boats in tow, and motored shoreward to recover his imperiled swimmers. Hostile fire hit the boat, and John Chun, standing next to Atcheson, was killed instantly by a round. Thirty yards offshore, Atcheson found two swimmers; one was dead and the other wounded. That left one missing.

Returning to PR-4, Atcheson transferred all hands save himself and Eckert to the other boat, then motored back to search for the remaining SMG swimmer. He finally had to give up and return to Bass. Onboard, a head count revealed that three guerrillas had been killed, two of them drowned when their rubber boat overturned, and the recovered swimmer was seriously wounded. He was transferred to the cruiser Manchester, whose crew found the missing SMG swimmer alive the next day. Interpreter John Chun was returned to his native soil for burial, with some sailors from Bass and his friend Pagnella attending the funeral.

Through the first week of May 1952, Bass continued to land SMG guerrillas for raids against North Korean targets. At times high surf prevented them from completing their missions. On April 30, the SMG landed in moderate seas near the site of Mission No. 1. After moving ashore without opposition at 0200 hours, they spotted a southbound train with front and rear engines. The recoilless rifle team opened fire. The team members could see that at least one round had hit the train, but when they moved in closer for the kill, the train crew managed to back out of harm's way. The demolition team had better luck, setting a 120-pound charge on a bridge and an 80-pounder on the tracks. Both detonated as the guerrillas returned safely to Bass with three captured North Korean civilians.

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