User:Olwillard/USS LSM(R)-188

Description Upper deck of USS LSM(R)-188 (Landing Ship Medium (Rocket)) Date off Charleston, S.C., 4 December 1944 Source US Navy photo from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, downloaded from http://www.navsource.org (http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/06/100618804.jpg) after webmaster had confirmed the US Government source Author US Navy Permission(Reusing this image) US-PD

LSM(R)-188 was laid down on 17 August, 1944 at Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, South Carolina. The ship was launched on 12 September 1944, and commissioned on 15 November 1944, Lt. Harry C. Crist, USNR, in command. It was the first of twelve of the LSM(R)-188 class Landing Ship Medium (Rocket) of the United States Navy during World War II, which was damaged 28 March 1945 off Okinawa when hit by a Japanese suicide plane and near miss from bomb; Navy Unit Commendation: Okinawa Campaign; Repaired and converted to Ammunition carrier; Decommissioned 23 January 1946 Terminal Island Navy Yard, San Pedro, CA; sold for scrapping 17 February 1948 National Metal & Steel Corp. Terminal Island, CA.

The interim design for the Landing Ship Medium (Rocket) was drawn up, and four months after the commissioning of the first LSM the keel for LSM(R) 188 was laid at the Charleston Navy Yard. The bow was redesigned, as no ramp was needed. The main deck was full width and fitted with 105 rigid-mount, rail type rockets. A destroyer type single 5"/38 gun turret was added near the stem. There were three 20mm and two 40mm guns. The crew consisted of 5 officers and 76 enlisted men.

A Small Boy with the Firepower of a Battleship (James M. Stewart)

The LSM(R) was heralded in Life Magazine in 1945 with a centerfold picture. "Each of these tiny ships had amazing firepower, greater at short range than the combined firepower of two mammoth Iowa class battleships, ran the caption. The interim group of 12 LSM(R)s transited the Panama Canal and via San Diego, Honolulu, and the Philippines, headed for battle against Japan in March 1945. Unaware of their destination, the crews were nonetheless well equipped and trained. In a preliminary assault on March 26, 1945, they laid down a rocket barrage at dawn on Kerama Retta, a small cluster of islands off the southwestern shore of Okinawa. Their objective: to allow the Marines to swiftly land and secure the islands and the harbor for protection of the hospital, supply and communication ships, and floating drydocks. The early dawn assault surprised the Japanese. We took control with a minimum of casualties and established this haven for damaged ships.

[edit] Service History

During World War II the ship was assigned to the Asiatic Pacific theater. At that time the fleet was under the command of Admiral Spruance and named the Fifth fleet. Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner was Commander of Amphibious Forces Pacific and was to be in charge of operations until the beachhead was established. The Kerama Retto islands were a small chain of islands 15 miles west of the southwest tip of Okinawa. The invasion of the Kerma Retto was an opportunity to break in all twelve of the 188-class LSM(R)s. The capture of the Kerama Islands did not come without a price. On the night of March 28, Japanese planes from Okinawa airfields made a special attack on the small patrol craft assembled between the islands and Okinawa. About a dozen were shot down, but one crahed USS LSM(R)- 188. There were 15 men killed and another 32 wounded. The badly damaged ship survived, but she was sent back to Pearl Harbor and saw no further combat. No one realized at the that this was a preview of what the class of ship would suffer six weeks later on the radar picket line. One of the reasons that Admiral Turner wanted to capture Kerama Retto was his knowledge that the Japanese Sea Raiding Units had suicide boats hidden there. On the morning of March 29 three of these boats attacked the USS LSM(R)-189 but were promptly destroyed.

[edit] The Okinawa Radar Picket Line

The American plan for defense against the kamikazes was to have fighters intercept the Japanese as early as possible. Sixteen radar picket stations were established around the island, in some cases almost 100 miles out, to give early warning of the Japanese planes which might be coming from any direction. Each station was manned around the clock by a handful of ships ranging from destroyers down to minesweepers. Their job was to sound the alarm and vector fighters to intercept before the Japanese could attack the fleet anchored off Okinawa and the Allied forces and supply dumps ashore. Unfortunately, some of the eager-to-die Japanese wanted to attack the first American ships they saw: the pickets. In addition to the damage to the LSM(R) 188, other LSM(R)s on radar picket duty including the USS LSM(R)-189 was struck by a Japanese kamikaze on April 12, 1945 but was not sunk, USS LSM(R)-195 hit by a kamikaze and sunk on May 3, USS LSM(R)-190 and USS LSM(R)-194 were hit and sunk by kanikazes on May 4, 1945.

[edit] Tribute To Those Who Served (ibid. Page 39)

The victory at Okinawa was never in doubt, but the price paid was very, very high. The numbers for American casualties were the highest of any campaign against the Japanese. Total casualties were 49,151, of which 12,520 were killed or missing and 36,631 were wounded. Of this number the Navy casualties were 4,907 killed or missing and 4,824 wounded. The ship losses were 36 sunk and 368 damaged, with many of the damaged ships never being returned to combat readiness. Approximately 110,000 Japanese were killed. These numbers rung up during the last campaign of World War II, may seem appalling, but in hindsight would have seemed small in comparison to the casualties on both sides had the invasion of Japan taken place as planned.

[edit] References

• LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces Volume II, Turner Publishing Co. 1997
• 90 Day Naval Wonder,(Self-Published) James M. Stewart 2003