| LST-422 (January 26, 1944)
Landing Ship Tank-422 was a Lend-Lease vessel operating with an all British crew under the command of Lieutenant Commander Broadhurst, Royal Navy. The ship had left Naples as part of a convoy of 13 other LSTs carrying troops and supplies to the Anzio beachhead. On board the 422 were American personnel of the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion. About twelve miles off shore the ships set anchor 'to wait in queue'. A storm blew up with Force-8 gale winds and waves 20ft high. The gale blew the 422 onto a German laid underwater mine the explosion of which blew a 50ft hole in her bottom and starboard side and caused the fuel oil supply to ignite. This in turn ignited the gasoline tanks of the vehicles on the tank deck. With the whole upper deck a sheet of flame the order was given to 'abandon ship'. Rushing to assist in the picking up of survivors, LCI-32 (Landing Craft-Infantry) hit a mine herself and sank with 30 members of her crew.
Casualties on the LST-422 were 454 American soldiers and 29 British sailors killed. The minesweepers USS Pilot and USS Strive, together with other small craft, rescued 171 survivors from the stormy sea. At 2.30pm the 422 broke in two and went under. Dead bodies were recovered from the water, identified, placed in canvas bags, weighed down with 5.40mm shells and returned to the sea.
The names of those dead or missing are engraved on the walls of the US Military Cemetery at Nettuno, Italy. |