Builder: Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas
Commissioned: 15 February 1943
Decommissioned: N/A
Disposition: Lost in action on Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944
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 Budd B. Bornhoft, USCGR.
History
The Coast Guard-manned LCI(L)-93 was commissioned on 15 February 1943 under the command of LTJG Budd B. Bornhoft, USCGR. She proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, for a shakedown cruise and to take aboard additional equipment and supplies. From Norfolk she proceeded to North Africa, via Bermuda, and arrived a few days after the Tunisian invasion. She anchored near Lake Bizerte where the other 24 ships of the LCI(L) Flotilla 4, all Coast Guard-manned, were anchored. Taking on troops at Lake Bizerte, the Flotilla transported them to Sicily where they participated in the original invasion of Licata, Sicily, on July 9, 1943, and the Salerno landings on the Italian peninsula on September 9, 1943.
She left Italy in December 1943. Early in January 1944 part of Flotilla 4 (now renamed Flotilla 10), including the LCI(L)-93, went to Falmouth, England on maneuvers, landing troops in mock invasions on the beaches nearby. On January 15, 1944, she reached Dartmouth, England, flotilla headquarters for the pre-invasion months. On February 10, 1944, the first rehearsal for the French invasion was staged, mock landings being made at Slapton Sands, near Dartmouth. On February 20th another invasion was staged In which British rocket-LCIs were used for the first time. Two other mock invasions followed the last one being three weeks before the actual "D" day. The final preparations then began for "D" day, June 6,1944.
The 93 participated in the landings on Omaha Beach on "D" day and was heavily damaged by enemy fire and mines. Her hull was holed numerous times and she became stranded between the beach and a sand bar off shore. Under continuous enemy fire, she was abandoned. An article in the July 1952 issue of the Coast Guard Magazine (p. 26) described her fate:
"Participating in the operations off the coast of France on 6 June 1944, the Coast Guard-manned LCI(L)-93 disembarked two loads of troops, encountering little enemy action on the first trip but sustaining several direct hits on the second. The second landing was made during a rapidly falling tide on the afternoon of 6 June. As the vessel approached the beach she had to pass over a sand bar. She accomplished this and proceeded about 20 yards father to Easy Red Beach in the Omaha area to disembark troops. While unloading she heaved around on the stern anchor slowly to prevent being stranded by the falling tide.
About 25 troops remained on board when the enemy found the range and concentrated several heavy batteries on the vessel. Four troops were seriously injured and were later evacuated with the crew, one soldier being killed. The crew suffered five shrapnel casualties and two others were seriously injured. After the remaining troops had been disembarked an attempt was made to retract. The engines and stern anchor took the 93 off the beach, but she could not pass over the bar astern of the ship. By this time the vessel had received at least ten direct hits, two passing through the pilot house, two through the starboard bow at the forecastle and the remainder along the port side. Shrapnel from the bursts had made a sieve out of the port passageway.
Failing to get off the bar, and still under heavy enemy fire, the ship called for a small boat to evacuate the wounded soldiers and crewmen. Later in the afternoon two more small boats evacuated those left on board. There was no sign of panic, all hands obeying orders and no one leaving the ship until ordered to do so. Three days later an inspection of the vessel found two holes in the starboard bow, each at least a yard in diameter; a hole two feet wide and six feet long on the port side caused by several hits; while after a mine had exploded, throwing the starboard engine over against the port engine. Two troop compartments, the crew's quarters, the engine room, the boatswain's locker and the forward peak tank were all flooded."
A number of crewmen were wounded in this action, including Stewards Mate 2/c John N. Roberts.
The LCI(L)-93 earned four 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.