In May of 1944, preparations were underway for the US invasion
of Saipan. The planned invasion force consisted of two Marine Divisions, a US
Army Division, and the required force and support units from an amphibious
armada of nearly 600 ships and craft. Inherent in preparing a landing force of
such size was the loading and preparation of the massive supply effort to
project and sustain the invasion force.
At Pearl Harbor the LSTs that would support the initial
landings and follow-on operations ashore were being crammed to the gunwales
with every conceivable item of warfare. That list of items included munitions of
all calibers and types, propellants, aviation gasoline, vehicle fuel, and a
variety of other volatile cargoes. In West Loch, more than two dozen LSTs were
tightly clustered while their hulls and decks filled with ammunition, supplies,
and materiel.
On the afternoon of
21 May, 1944, while Army Ordnance troops loaded mortar ammunition on the
fantail of LST-353, there was an explosion, followed by two more minutes later,
that sprayed hot splinters into the highly flammable aviation drums on LST-480
and LST-39 nearby. Predictably, flaming gasoline and exploding ammunition soon
began to take a frightful toll of the Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines loading
and manning the ships. Fires and explosions drove back ships and craft engaged
in firefighting efforts, but each time those vessels re-entered the inferno to
contain the fires and keep the disaster from spreading to the rest of the Fleet
anchorage.
The fires burned for more than 24 hours, finally being
extinguished on the afternoon of 22 May. As the fires died away, the cost of
the catastrophe was counted. One-hundred and sixty three men lost their lives,
with another 400 injured, including several fighting the fires. Six LSTs were
destroyed, two damaged beyond repair. Three LCTs, lashed to the decks of sunken
LSTs, were also lost, as were a number of LVT’s parked nearby.
In examining the impact of the tragedy, there are
interesting facts that stagger our concept of that war and the effort our
nation put forth:
Despite the loss of virtually all of the cargo on eight LSTs
and the ships themselves, the Saipan invasion force put to sea as scheduled on
5 June 1944, just as the largest invasion armada ever to sail was crossing the
English Channel en route to the Normandy beaches.
Admiral Chester Nimitz, CINCPAC, was asked if the practice
of “nesting” landing ships while loading such volatile cargo should be ended.
Admiral Nimitz answered in the negative. The exigencies of war and the tempo
demanded by the campaign in the Central Pacific required such “calculated
risks”.
Neither of those occurrences is imaginable today. The loss
of a single MPF ship, or a JLOTS vessel, and their respective cargoes, would
likely have crippling effects on US power projection operations, even without a
simultaneous and much larger effort halfway around the world. Our highly
risk-averse senior military and civilian leadership would not countenance
Admiral Nimitz’s willingness to assume such risk to maintain operational tempo.
-Something we should think about….
Live Long and Prosper...
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