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Full Description
The "Interim" LSM(R) or Landing Ship, Medium (Rocket) was a revolutionary development in rocket warfare in World War II and the U.S. Navy's first true rocket ship. An entirely new class of commissioned warship and the forerunners of today's missile-firing naval combatants, these ships began as improvised conversions of conventional amphibious landing craft in South Carolina's Charleston Navy Yard during late 1944. They were rushed to the Pacific Theatre to support the U.S. Army and Marines with heavy rocket bombardments that devastated Japanese forces on Okinawa in 1945.
Their primary mission was to deliver maximum firepower to enemy targets ashore. Yet LSM(R)s also repulsed explosive Japanese speed boats, rescued crippled warships, recovered hundreds of survivors at sea and were deployed as antisubmarine hunter-killers. Casualties were staggering: enemy gunfire blasted one, while kamikaze attacks sank three, crippled a fourth and grazed two more. This book provides a comprehensive operational history of the Navy's 12 original "Interim" LSM(R)s.
Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword by Capt. Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., USN (Ret.)
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "LSM Rocket Ships"
2. Forward Routing: 1944-45
3. The Kerama Rettos: 26 March 1945-1 April 1945
4. Okinawa and Patrols: 1-13 April 1945
5. The Radar Picket Lines: 7-30 April 1945
6. Ie Shima: 13-18 April 1945
7. The Radar Picket Lines: 1-21 May 1945
8. The Finners: Naval Gunfire Support, 21 May 1945-2 June 1945
9. Iheya Shima and Aguni Shima: 30 May 1945-11 June 1945
10. The Spinners: Naval Gunfire Support, 11-18 June 1945
11. Return to Pearl Harbor
12. Ammunition Carriers
13. Homeward Bound
Appendices:
I. "Interim" LSM(R) Characteristics and Performance
II. Crew Complements: LSM, "Interim" LSM(R), LSM(A)/LSM(E)
III. Paint, Camouflage and Markings
IV. Ships Data
Glossary
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
