Builder: Brown Shipbuilding Corporation, Houston, Texas
Commissioned: 26 December 1943
Decommissioned: 2 April 1946
Disposition: Transferred to the Maritime Commission on 18 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 Thomas A. Walsh, USCGR
LTJG W. W. Allen, USCGR
LTJG Richard L. Scott, USCGR
History: Flotilla 4 / 10 / 35, Group 104, Division 208
The Coast Guard-manned USS LCI(L)-349 was commissioned on 26 December 1942. 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. She arrived at Robat, Morocco, North Africa on 19 April 1943. Shortly afterwards she sailed for Lake Bizerte, Tunisia, where landing operations were conducted in preparation for the Sicilian invasion. On 10 July 1943, she carried troops to the beach at Licata, Sicily. On 9 September 1943, she proceeded to Salerno, Italy, landing troops under enemy shore bombardment and taking part in salvage operations until the 11th. During this period a Messerschmitt ME-109 was shot down while attacking the Allied invasion forces.
In the latter part of October, 1943, she then sailed for Plymouth, England as part of the same flotilla, now renamed Flotilla 10, in preparation for the invasion of Normandy, arriving at Plymouth on 3 November 1943. For the next several months extensive training was conducted in England. On 5 June 5, 1944, she departed Salcombe, England for France and on the 6th (D-day) disembarked troops on Utah Beach. She continued making cross-channel trips carrying reinforcements until July 12th.
She departed Falmouth, England on 5 October 1944, and arrived at Jacksonville, Florida on October 26th, via Charleston, South Carolina and Mayport, Florida, where she underwent a complete overhaul at the Merrill Stevens Dry Docking and Repair Company. Additional alterations and sailing preparations were made at Charleston, South Carolina, and Norfolk, Virginia and on 2 January 1945, she sailed for San Diego, California, via Key West and the Panama Canal. Here she completed nearly three months of amphibious training at the Naval Repair Base, San Diego, California and departed for Guam, via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok on 20 April 1945. Arriving at Guam on 26 May 1945, she engaged in salvage operations and was on air-sea rescue patrol off Northwest Guam until 1 July 1945, when she proceeded to Eniwetok. Arriving at Eniwetok on 7 July 1945, she was engaged in inter-atoll ferry service until 25 October 1945, when she proceeded to Guam for engine repairs.
She departed Guam 26 November 1945 for home, arriving at Galveston, Texas, via Pearl Harbor, San Diego and the Canal Zone on 3 February 1946. Here she was decommissioned on 2 April 1946.
The LCI(L)-349 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.