USS LCI(L)-90

April 30, 2019
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Builder: Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas

Commissioned: 6 February 1943

Decommissioned: 8 April 1946 

Disposition: Transferred to the Maritime Commission on 13 November 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

LTJG William E. Stevens, USCGR
LTJG William H. Nadon, USCGR 

History: Flotilla 4 / 10 / 35, Group 103, Division 205

The Coast Guard-manned USS LCI(L)-90 was commissioned on 6 February 1943.  She was assigned to LCI(L) Flotilla 4.  After undergoing shakedown and training exercises, she sailed across the Atlantic in company with the other LCI(L)s of the flotilla 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. 

On 6 June 1944, she participated in the landings on Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy.  After acting as ferry and escort duty between England and France she left Falmouth on 5 October 1944 for Charleston, South Carolina.  Arriving at Charleston, South Carolina on October 24th, she remained on availability until December 5th, when she proceeded to Little Creek, Virginia and Solomon Islands, Maryland for amphibious training until December 13th.  From the 14th to the 23rd of December she was at Lambert Point Pier, Norfolk for loading.  She departed for San Diego, California, via Key West, Florida and the Canal Zone on December 23rd, and was attached to the Amphibious Training Group there until 20 April 1945, when she left for Pearl Harbor.

She arrived at Okinawa via Eniwetok, Guam, Ulithi and Leyte on 3 June 1945.  Ten days later while engaged in making smoke, she was hit by a Japanese suicide plane and departed June 14th for Saipan and Leyte for repairs.  She remained at Leyte early in December 1945 when she returned to the United States arriving at Galveston on 14 February 1946.  Here she was decommissioned on 8 April 1946.

The LCI(L)-90 earned five 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.

Robert Smith donation.

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.