Builder: Brown Shipbuilding Corporation, Orange, Texas
Commissioned: 10 February 1943
Decommissioned: 15 April 1946
Disposition: Sold on 13 December 1946, fate unknown.
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 William H. E. Schroeder, USCGR
LT Douglas B. Jones, USCGR
LTJG Theodore J. Pempges, USCGR
LTJG Edward J. Burns, USCGR
LTJG John D. Roche, Jr., USCGR
LT Raymond M. Rosenbloom, USCGR
History: Flotilla 4 / 10 / 35, Group 103, Division 205
The Coast Guard-manned USS LCI(L)-323 was commissioned on February 10, 1943. She was assigned to LCI(L) Flotilla 4. After shakedown exercises she proceeded to Norfolk and thence to North Africa. She participated in the occupation of Sicily on July 9, 1943, and in the landings at Salerno on September 9, 1943. Proceeding to the United Kingdom where she arrived November 3, 1943, she participated in a long period of amphibious training on the south England beaches. Flotilla 4 was redesignated as LCI(L) Flotilla 10. On June 6, 1944, she participated in the landings at Utah Beach, Normandy, France, and thereafter acted as guide for cross channel craft.
On October 5, 1944, she left Falmouth, England, for Charleston, South Carolina, where she remained for overhaul until December 14, 1944. With a new crew she then proceeded, with the other LCI(L)s of the redesignated LCI(L) Flotilla 35, to Little Creek, Virginia and Solomons Island, Maryland for amphibious training, departing Norfolk, December 27, 1944, for San Diego, California via Key West and the Canal Zone. Arriving at San Diego January 23, 1945, she remained there undergoing further training until April 3, 1945, when she departed for Pearl Harbor.
Departing Pearl Harbor April 20, 1945, she proceeded to Okinawa via Eniwetok Guam, Ulithi and Leyte arriving on May 28, 1945. The next day she departed for Kerama Rhetto to relieve LCI(R)-769 at the Harbor Entrance Control Post, North Net Entrance of Kerana Rhetto. This duty was continued until July 16, 1945, with occasional smoke-making in Kerama Rhetto Harbor. On that date she proceeded to Chimu Wan, returning to Kerama Rhetto on the 17th and next day proceeded to Hagushi Harbor, Okinawa and thence to Chimu Wan again. Here she lay a smoke coverage until the 23rd and then proceeded to Buckner Bay, Okinawa on the same mission.
She remained at Okinawa until September 8, 1945, when she sailed for Wakayama, Japan, arriving on the 11th. On the 12th she was drydocked by LSD-16 for hull repairs. She remained in repair status until November 25, 1945, when she departed Sasebo for Guam. New Orleans on March 8, 1946 via Pearl Harbor, San Diego and the Canal Zone. Here she was decommissioned on April 14, 1946.
The LCI(L)-323 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.
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.