Builder: New Jersey Shipbuilding Company, Barber, New Jersey
Commissioned: 18 December 1943
Decommissioned: 26 March 1946
Disposition: Transferred to Indonesia in 1946, returned to the Navy at an unknown date, she was then transferred to the Maritime Commission on 10 February 1948. Her ultimate fate is 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.
Coast Guard Commanding Officers
LTJG John N. Taylor, USCGR
LTJG Elkin S. Mittleman, USCGR
History: Flotilla 35, Group 104, Division 207
The USS LCI(L)-520 was built by the New Jersey Shipbuilding Company of Barber, New Jersey, and was first commissioned as a Navy-manned vessel on 18 December 1943 under the command of LTJG Leon J. Joseph, USNR. After training cruises in Chesapeake Bay she proceeded to England where she under further amphibious training on the English beaches before participating in the invasion of Normandy on D-day, 6 June 1944. She was in a collision off the coast of France and after being repaired participated in the invasion of Southern France, landing Army personnel in Bougnam Bay, France, on 15 August 1944. She arrived in the United States early in December 1944, and after an availability at the Norfolk Navy Yard until 1 January 1945, her commanding and all other officers and entire Navy personnel were relieved by Coast Guard personnel on January 10th.
Assigned to LCI(L) Flotilla 35, the 520 sailed from Norfolk, Virginia on January 16th, reaching San Diego California, via Key West and the Canal Zone on February 14th. Here her crew completed their training in the San Nichols Island area and the ship underwent repairs at the Naval Repair Base. On 26 April 1945, she departed for Guam, via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok arriving there on 28 May 1945. Here she engaged in towing a target raft for submarines until 1 July 1945, when she departed for Eniwetok. Here from July 7th she ran as an inter-island passenger ferry. On 1 September 1945, she proceeded to Kwajalein bringing back naval passengers for separation and rotation. On 12 September 1945, she departed Eniwetok for Wake Island with US Marines and gear and returned to Kwajalein on September 22nd, with Japanese ordnance equipment samples. Other trips were made during October and November to Najuro, Kwajalein and Fanape.
On 12 December 1945 she arrived at Pearl Harbor en route San Deigo and Long Beach which she reached on 7 February 1946. Here she was decommissioned on 26 March 1946.
The LCI(L)-520 earned two battle stars for her service in World War II.
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.