Builder: Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas
Commissioned: 23 January 1943
Decommissioned: 9 April 1946
Disposition: Transferred to the Maritime Commission on 31 July 1947 for disposal.
Length: 158' 6" oa
Beam: 23' 3"
Draft: 2' 8" (forward), 5' 3" (aft -- beaching condition)
Displacement: 216 tons (light); 234 tons (beaching condition); 389 tons (full load)
Propulsion: 8 x GM diesels; twin shafts (4 diesels per shaft); 1,600 hp; twin variable-pitch propellers
Range: 4,000 @ 12 knots
Top Speed: 15.5 knots
Complement: 3 officers, 21 enlisted
Troops: 188
Cargo capacity: 75 tons
Initial armament: 4 x 20mm (single-mount): 1 forward, 1 amidships, 2 aft; 2 x .50 caliber; 2" plastic splinter armor on gun shields, conning tower, and pilot house.
Commanding Officers
LT(jg) Everett Maina, USCGR
LT(jg) R. F. Treinen, USCGR
LT(jg) H. L. Read, USCGR
LT(jg) Marshall S. Setman, USCGR
History: Flotilla 4 / 10 / 35, Group 103, Division 205
The Coast Guard-manned USS LCI(L)-84 was commissioned on January 23, 1943 under the command of LT(jg) Everett Maina, USCGR. After undergoing shakedown and training exercises, she sailed across the Atlantic in company with the other LCI(L)s of Flotilla 4 and participated in the North African occupation in Tunisia, from 1 June to 9 July 1943. She then landed troops during the invasion of Sicily on 9 July 1943 and the landings at Salerno on 9 September 1943.
She then sailed for England as part of the same flotilla, now renamed Flotilla 10, in preparation for the invasion of Normandy. She landed troops on Omaha Beach on the morning of D-Day, June 6, 1944. After her participation in the invasion of France, she left the United Kingdom on October 4, 1944, for Charleston, South Carolina, where she remained undergoing overhaul and repair until December 15, 1944 in preparation for action in the Pacific. The flotilla was renamed to Flotilla 35. On December 15th, she departed for Pearl Harbor via Key West, Canal Zone and San Diego, arriving April 18, 1945, the 84, being attached to a ship training group at Coronado, California, from January 23rd to April 14th, 1945.
Proceeding to Okinawa via Eniwetok, Guam, Ulithi and Leyte she arrived there on May 28th. 1945 and was assigned to carrying passengers and mail between nearby islands. Departing Okinawa early in September 1945 she arrived at Wakajama September 11, 1945, where she joined a mine destruction unit operating in Kii Suido. On October 19th, she proceeded to Sasebo where on October 26th she was designated a mine disposal vessel on the "skagway" sweeping operation in the East China Sea. She returned to Sasebo from this duty on November 1, 1945, and remained there until the 12th when she proceeded to Nagoya. On November 27th she left Nagoya for Saipan, arriving December 3rd, 1945.
Departing Saipan December 8th, she arrived at Galveston, Texas, on February 28th, 1946. She was decommissioned at Orange, Texas, April 13th, 1946.
The LCI(L)-84 earned six battle stars for her service in World War II. All LCI(L)s of Flotilla 10 were retroactively awarded the Coast Guard Unit Commendation for their service in the invasion of Normandy.
Sources
LCI(L) file, Coast Guard Historian's Office.
United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard At War. V. Transports and Escorts. Vol. 2. Washington: Public Information Division, Historical Section, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, May 1, 1949, pp. 117-130.