Wreck of USS LST-314

 Second World War 1939-1945, shipwreck

Laid down at the New York Navy Yard in September 1942, the USS LST-314 commissioned into US Navy service January 1943 as a member of the US Atlantic Fleet. After engaging in training maneuvers at Little Creek, VA and in the Chesapeake Bay, LST-314 and her crew stood out of Norfolk for Oran, Algeria via the Azores as part of the Allied Invasion Force bound for Italy.

Beginning her role in the Second World War by landing troops, tanks and vehicles on Sicily in July 1943, LST-314 supported US and Allied forces through early August when she returned to Oran. Shifting to Bizerte in Tunisia, she loaded members of the British 8th Army and stood out for mainland Italy for in the Invasion of Salerno in September. Remaining off the Italian coast from September 9th through the 21st, LST-314 departed the front lines and spent the next few months shuttling supplies between North Africa and rear areas on the Italian front.

Reassigned to operate out of English waters in early 1944, LST-314 and her crew joined with the US and Allied naval armada massing in British ports in preparation for the Invasion of France. Beginning intensive training with elements of the Allied amphibious force in Lime Bay, LST-314 and her crew were well seasoned for the task which lay ahead of them on the French Coast, and put into harbor in late May to begin loading supplies for the invasion.

Departing English waters as part of the second wave of 'Operation Overlord' on June 6th, 1944, the LST-314 crossed the English Channel and took up position off the landing beaches at Normandy on June 7th, awaiting her signal to begin offloading her cargo. With the Allied beachhead littered with ships, wrecks, obstacles and mines LST-314 and her crew offloaded their cargo onto smaller landing craft while offshore, a process which dragged on throughout the day on June 8th and into the night. As dawn broke on June 9th and her crew prepared for another long day cargo operations, alarm bells sounded as German E-boats were sighted in the distance.

Four of the high-speed German torpedo boats had penetrated the outer defensive ring of the landing force during the previous night, and with dawn illuminating the massed flotilla of ships sitting idle off Normandy had a plethora of targets to choose from. One of the four boats unleashed its load of torpedoes in the direction of LST-314 and the LST-376 moored near her, and though gunners on both ships fired on the inbound torpedoes there was no way for the ships to evade. At least one German torpedo slammed into LST-314's Port side forward where it easily punched an enormous hole into her hull and opened up her well deck to heavy flooding. Warped hull plating allowed her Bow doors to lose their watertight integrity and within minutes the LST-314 was shipping enormous amounts of water and going down by the Bow. Realizing that damage control efforts were all but moot, LST-314's Captain passed the order to abandon ship as her remaining cargo began to shift forward, further exacerbating the ships increasing pitch and bringing her screws out of the water. Utilizing the ships own landing craft, LST-314's crew evacuated their stricken ship in an orderly fashion and were all accounted for by the time the Veteran LST sank Bow-first at this location on June 9th, 1944.

For her part in the Second World War, LST-314 was awarded three Battle Stars.

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