Army troops from the twenty ninth Chemical Decontamination Firm backed a number of vans onto LST-353 at 3:08 p.m. on Could 21, 1944. The troopers have been transferring 4.2-inch mortar ammunition from a smaller craft onto the ship’s elevator. None had obtained coaching in dealing with explosives.
The sudden blast killed everybody close to the bow. No witnesses survived to clarify what triggered the detonation. A fireball erupted from the ship’s ahead part. Burning particles showered throughout West Loch at Pearl Harbor. Inside three minutes, gasoline drums ignited on neighboring vessels. The chain response was catastrophic.
Official casualty figures listing 163 useless and 396 wounded. There may be ongoing debate about these numbers. Some estimate over 1,000 have been killed. The Navy’s transfer to maintain the incident secret ensured it remained comparatively unknown to the general public, even to at the present time.
The Pacific Warfare
The upcoming Operation Forager demanded a rushed loading schedule. American planners wanted the Mariana Islands by mid-1944. Saipan sat 1,500 miles from Tokyo. Capturing it could place the brand new B-29 Superfortress bomber inside hanging vary of Japanese cities. The whole strategic bombing marketing campaign in opposition to Japan hinged on securing these islands.
Greater than 300 ships and 300,000 personnel ready for the invasion, with many stopping at Pearl Harbor earlier than transferring throughout the Pacific. The assault on Saipan was scheduled for June 15. Each LST carried vital provides for the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions.
West Loch’s staging space crammed 34 LSTs right into a confined area. Twenty-nine ships moored beam-to-beam at six berths. The vessels nested in teams of six or seven, their bows tied collectively in star formations. Every LST carried roughly 90 drums of high-octane gasoline. Ammunition of varied sorts crammed the decks. The ships additionally held 200,000 gallons of gasoline of their tanks.
The twenty ninth Chemical Decontamination Firm’s major mission concerned decontaminating personnel and gear after chemical assaults. The segregated unit principally dealt with handbook labor assignments. That Sunday afternoon, roughly 100 enlisted males and one officer from the corporate labored aboard LST-353 unloading mortar rounds.
Tech 5 James Caldwell stooped to choose up an ammunition field when he seen a vivid yellow flame. A deafening noise adopted. The explosion hurled him away from the elevator. Non-public James R. Cleveland described being thrown into the air contained in the touchdown craft. Steel fragments flew up with him. When he hit the deck, flames surrounded all the pieces.
“I may see fireplace throughout, simply nothing however fireplace throughout me,” Cleveland stated later. “I believed I used to be useless.”
Tech 5 Clarence Henry Morgan witnessed an enormous fireball rise from LST-353 from a close-by vessel. The blast killed numerous troopers and sailors immediately. Those that survived the preliminary explosion jumped into the water. Hearth unfold throughout the harbor’s floor as burning oil unfold the flames throughout the water.
The Explosions
The second explosion struck three minutes later at 3:11 p.m. Gasoline drums on a number of ships detonated concurrently. Flames engulfed males and equipment throughout the staging space. Burning fragments rained down all through West Loch. Harbor floor fires unfold as extra gasoline leaked from the broken vessels.
Eleven picket buildings on shore exploded. Autos flipped over. Twenty buildings sustained harm. Inside minutes, 200 males had been blown into the water. Some LSTs farther from the preliminary blast managed to arrange harm management events. Others nearer to Tare 8 started sinking instantly.
Crews fought to forged off mooring traces. Warmth prevented many from reaching the ahead cables. Some inexperienced crews deserted ship instantly. Others stayed aboard making an attempt to avoid wasting their vessels. One burning LST rammed right into a pier, setting one other ship ablaze.
The third and largest explosion despatched burning particles over a 1,000-yard radius. Home windows shook 15 miles away. A mushroom cloud rose above the harbor. The blast created showers of burning metallic and shrapnel. Service members working on shore died when shrapnel struck them.
LST-39 drifted towards different berthing areas. Tugs rushed in regardless of steady explosions. Hearth boats arrived from Honolulu Harbor, 14 miles away. Small touchdown craft pulled survivors from the smoke-filled waters whereas flames continued spreading.
The cargo ship Joseph B. Francis sat on the ammunition depot unloading 350 tons of explosives. A phosphorous shell landed on her deck and detonated. The crew extinguished the hearth. The shell reignited minutes later. They fought it once more. Burning LSTs drifted towards the depot. The wrecks stopped 500 toes away.
A last explosion occurred at 10:30 p.m. A number of ships continued burning by means of the evening. LST-39 caught fireplace once more at 7:39 p.m. LST-480 reignited at 1:30 a.m. By 8:00 a.m. on Could 22, all fires have been both contained or extinguished. Some ships burned for days afterward.
The Losses at West Loch
The Navy’s official rely of 163 killed and 396 wounded has been debated ever since. Lieutenant Phil Kierl from LST-480 wrote that reviews circulated on the time putting complete casualties above 2,000. Pharmacist’s Mate 2nd Class William C. Johnson of LST-69 managed to ship an uncensored letter residence days after the catastrophe. He estimated over 1,000 males misplaced.
Almost one-third of the 163 documented and confirmed casualties got here from the twenty ninth Chemical Decontamination Firm. The segregated unit misplaced roughly 58 males. The precise quantity stays unsure. The Naval Board of Inquiry’s report didn’t embrace a whole roster of Army casualties. Marine Corps losses might have ranged between 80 and 300 useless. Scattered information and the fast departure for Saipan made exact accounting not possible.
Six LSTs sank fully. LST-353, LST-39, LST-43, LST-69, LST-179, and LST-480 all went down. 4 further LSTs suffered harm too extreme to make the invasion. Three smaller touchdown craft have been destroyed together with 17 amphibious tractors and eight 155mm howitzers.
Eleven harbor tugs sustained harm throughout firefighting operations. The tugs Osceola, Hoga, and Geronimo, the online tender Tamaha, the chartered tug Mikioi, and smaller yard tugs all suffered casualties or gear harm whereas battling the flames.
Regardless of the losses, reserve LSTs appeared inside days. The invasion fleet departed Pearl Harbor solely at some point delayed. The ships reached Saipan in time for the June 15 assault. The marketing campaign proceeded as deliberate.
The Investigation
A Naval Board of Inquiry underneath Rear Admiral John F. Shafroth Jr. convened the next morning. Investigators dismissed early theories of a Japanese submarine assault. West Loch’s shallow depth and anti-submarine nets made such an assault impractical.
The chief officer of LST-353 testified that Army stevedores have been unloading mortar ammunition instantly earlier than the explosion. The inquiry realized that M2 mortars fired inaccurately from touchdown craft, prompting the switch of ammunition again to LSTs. The unit assigned to maneuver the mortar rounds had obtained no coaching for the duty.
Eighty drums of gasoline sat 15 toes from the elevator getting used to unload ammunition. The board concluded a mortar spherical seemingly exploded aboard LST-353, sparking the chain response. Two explanations appeared believable. Somebody might have dropped a shell through the switch. Alternatively, gasoline vapors may have ignited from cigarettes or welding work, detonating close by ammunition.
The inquiry couldn’t decide the precise trigger. Everybody nearest the preliminary blast had died. The board’s report said the catastrophe resulted from poor group, insufficient coaching, and harmful storage practices. One passage famous a deplorable lack of elementary security precautions concerning open lights on a number of LSTs.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz ordered a whole press blackout. 4 days after the explosion, authorities launched a single paragraph. The assertion acknowledged “some lack of life” and harm to “a number of small vessels.” Survivors obtained orders to not point out the incident in letters. The Navy labeled all particulars as High Secret.
The classification remained till 1960. Even after declassification, the catastrophe remained largely forgotten.
Heroism Through the Salvage
Navy dive groups labored by means of 1944 clearing sunken LST hulls from West Loch. On February 17, 1945, two divers tunneled beneath a wreck utilizing jet nozzles. They washed away mud and sediment from underneath the vessel. The metal wreckage collapsed. The cave-in trapped each males underneath 40 toes of water and 20 toes of mud.
Tangled lifelines and air hoses left them buried. Different divers tried to rescue them however stirred up extra sediment. The state of affairs appeared hopeless. Even a specialised dive group refused to try to avoid wasting them.
Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Owen Francis Patrick Hammerberg volunteered. The 24-year-old from Michigan descended into pitch-black underwater situations. He labored for hours making a tunnel by means of the sediment. Hammerberg reached the primary trapped diver and freed his traces. The person safely reached the floor.
Exhausted however decided, Hammerberg pushed deeper underneath the buried hull. He reached a place above the second diver when one other cave-in occurred. Heavy metal plating pinned him crosswise over his shipmate. His physique shielded the person beneath from additional harm whereas bearing the total weight. The person was capable of escape unhurt because of Hammerberg.
Hammerberg died 18 hours after coming into the water. His actions contributed to saving each trapped divers. The Navy posthumously awarded him the Medal of Honor. He turned the one World Warfare II service member to obtain the medal for a noncombat motion.
Twin Disasters Drive Reform
Two months after West Loch, a fair deadlier explosion struck Port Chicago Naval Journal in California. On July 17, 1944, munitions being loaded onto cargo ships detonated. The blast killed 320 sailors and wounded 390. Most casualties have been Black enlisted males assigned to loading operations.
Port Chicago survivors refused to renew loading underneath the identical unsafe situations. The Navy charged 258 males for refusing orders. Fifty confronted mutiny trials. The proceedings drew nationwide consideration to discriminatory practices and insufficient security requirements.
The mixed disasters pressured complete reforms throughout the army. The Navy mandated full coaching for all personnel dealing with explosives. Amenities for loading gasoline and ammunition required full separation. Mooring berths obtained redesign to forestall fireplace unfold. Ships may now not nest collectively throughout operations involving the motion of munitions.
Smoking bans close to munitions turned strictly enforced. Gear underwent redesign for safer dealing with. Operational manuals integrated new procedures. The rules turned commonplace throughout all army branches.
The disasters additionally accelerated army desegregation. Disproportionate casualties amongst Black service members highlighted discriminatory task practices. African American models routinely drew hazardous duties with out coaching equal to white personnel.
The Forgotten Losses
Whereas the true losses at West Loch are nonetheless unknown, the army claims 163 died within the blast, with virtually 400 injured. Due to inaccurate report retaining and the chaotic situations on the base that day, the true quantity was seemingly a lot greater.
Our bodies too badly burned for identification went to the Nationwide Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. Authentic headstones merely learn “Unknown.” Congress mandated modifications to this within the 2000s. The markers now learn “Unknown, West Loch Catastrophe, Could 21, 1944.”
The Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company started exhuming stays in October 2024. Forty-eight unknown service members at the moment await identification. Fashionable forensic methods might return names to the fallen after 80 years.
Solely LST-480’s rusting bow stays seen in West Loch. The hull sits the place it beached through the catastrophe. Annual memorial ceremonies mark the anniversary. Navy personnel and veterans lay wreaths on the website.
The reforms applied after West Loch and Port Chicago proceed influencing army operations at this time. Coaching requirements, security protocols, and gear design all modified due to the teachings realized in 1944. These modifications helped forestall related catastrophes within the many years since.
