"LCS is for landing craft support. It was commissioned in October, 1944. They sailed to San Diego and then left the States on January 12, 1945. "When we arrived in Pearl, we could still see all the planes and ships that had been bombed. They had not the time to clean all of this up so they just left it." Next stop was Guadalcanal on Feb,20. On March 23, they left as part of the fleet headed to the invasion of Okinawa. April 1, Okinawa, "At 0736 a plane came out of the clouds and headed for a Destroyer. It looked like a bird with an egg on it, but we didn't know. We knocked the plane down, and it was one of our own planes. It made us feel bad but we didn't have time to worry about the pilot." About a week later, They we got a letter saying that the plane we shot down five days ago was a Jap, too.". No punishment nor commendation. On Friday, the 13th, they were sent in a flotilla of 13 ships to area Picket 13, 50 miles North of the island. Only 6 of the ships arrived at Picket 13. "All the(Jap)planes that attacked Okinawa passed this point." "Then, all of a sudden, we saw planes everywhere, coming right for us. There were 75 Jap suicide planes. We radioed for more air protection. They got there, but it was almost too late." He describes the battle and ships being hit. "It was about 1600---- and all we had left aboard the ship was one round of ammunition." "All that was left was LCS23 and my ship, LCS21 and it looked hopeless. Then our planes came in on the Japs and they really had a dog fight" They started bringing aboard sailors from the water and from sinking ships. During the rescue, LCS21passed over another sunk LCS which exploded directly under them. This inflicted split seams and other damage but they continued to bring survivors aboard. "We had 239 men aboard plus our crew of 70 men on a 165 foot vessel." "There's grease and blood everywhere you went. The Jap planes were still coming." "We knocked down 4 planes that day." The LCS21 ran at top speed for the hospital at Okinawa. Only 6 the wounded died. The news carried the story of their arrival with a sharp list and bow up from the overload that it looked like the ship was badly damaged. Their action earned them a Unit Citation. "The night of May 24, 1945, LCS121 fired its aft 40mm (gun) and put a hole through our bow and into the dry storage. We had to pump water out of the hole all night and then went in for repairs." "June 1, during this patrol the skipper made a mistake reading the map." Another officer came on duty later and discovered the error when they were about 75 miles from Tokyo and ordered flank speed to get away before they were spotted. From that time on, he comments on the engines running poorly for the rest of the war. On September 16, they went through a typhoon that broke open a leak around the rudder post. Oct. 22, 1945, they lost the first man. He died of sudden appendicitis and was buried at sea. Oct. 25, one of the engine men opened the wrong valve and dumped much of the drinking water overboard. He was put in the brig for 5 days and fed bread and water. LCS21 performed mine sweeping duty during all of November."
Synopsis of a diary written by Walter Floyd USS LCS(L)(3)-21