Builder: Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas
Commissioned: 15 February 1943
Decommissioned: 28 March 1946
Disposition: Transferred to the Maritime Commission on 8 April 1946 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 Clinton E. McAuliffe, USCG
LTJG G. E. Bray, USCGR
ENS Gerald E. Cork, USCG
History: Flotilla 4 / 10 / 35, Group 104, Division 208
The Coast Guard-manned USS LCI(L)-95 was commissioned at Orange, Texas, on February 15, 1943. 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 on July 9, 1943, and the original invasion of Palermo a few days later.
She left Italy in December 1943. Early in January 1944 part of Flotilla 4 (now renamed Flotilla 10), including the LCI(L)-95, 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 95 beached at Utah Beach that day near Cherbourgh, France, where she remained for nearly a month. Following this she made a dozen or more cross-channel runs carrying troops and, on one occasion, nurses, into liberated France.
On October 5, 1944, having suffered no casualties during her channel operations, she left Falmouth, England for Jacksonville, Florida, where she went into drydock for repairs. On December 7, 1944, she departed for Charleston, South Carolina, where she remained until the 18th when she left for Solomons Island, Maryland, by way of Little Creek, Virginia, breaking in a new crew in amphibious warfare. On December 26, 1944, she departed for Key West, the Canal Zone and San Diego, California, where she arrived January 27, 1945. Here she remained, attached to Ship Training Group, Naval Repair Base until April 20, 1945, where she departed for Pearl Habor. She reached Pearl Harbor, arriving on the 29th. She remained there until May 6th when she departed for Saipan via Eniwetok and Guam, arriving on the 31st.
Here based on Saipan Harbor she was assigned Japanese fishing escort duty until August 6, 1945. She proceeded to Eniwetok on that date and from August 10, 1945 to October 25th was on ferry duty between Runit and Eniwetok Islands, Marshall Islands. On October 25, 1945, she proceeded to Guam and Saipan. On November 12, 1945, she started home, reaching Long Beach on February 1, 1946, via Guam, Pearl Harbor and San Diego. She was decommissioned at Terminal Island on March 28, 19146.
The LCI(L)-95 earned three 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.