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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

LCI(L)-72 / LCI(R)-72

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (8) - World War II Victory Medal - Philippines Liberation Medal

LCI-1 Class Landing Craft Infantry (Large):

Laid down, (date unknown), at Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, TX.

Launched (date unknown);

Commissioned USS LCI(L)-72, 31 December 1942.

During World War II LCI(L)-72 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the:

Bismarck Archipelago operation;
(a) Cape Gloucester, New Britain, 26 to 27 December 1943
Eastern New Guinea operation;
(a) Saidor occupation, 2 to 3 January 1944
Hollandia operation, 21 to 25 April 1944
Western New Guinea operation;
(a) Toem-Wakde-Sarmi area operation, 17 May 1944
(b) Biak Island operation, 27 to 28 May to 1 June 1944
(c) Morotai landings. 15 September 1944
Leyte operation;
(a) Leyte landings, 12 October to 29 November 1944
Luzon operation;
(a) Lingayen Gulf landing, 4 to 18 January 1945
Consolidation of the Southern Philippines;
(a) Palawan Islands landings, 28 February to 3 March 1945
(b) Visayan Island landings. 18 to 19 March 1945
(c) Cotabato, Mindanao Island landing, 17 to 19 April 1945
Borneo operation;
(a) Tarakan island operation, 1 to 5 May 1945
(b) Brunei Bay, 10 June 1945
(c) Lutong, 20 June 1945.

LCI(L)-72 was redesignated Landing Craft Rockets LCI(R)-72, 10 July 1945;

Decommissioned, (date unknown);

Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown);

Final Disposition, sold 2 December 1946, fate unknown.

LCI(L)-72 / LCI(R)-72 received eight battle stars for WWII service.

Specifications:
Displacement 216 t.(light), 234 t.(landing); 389 t.(loaded)
Length 158' 5 1/2"
Beam 23' 3"
Draft Light 3'1½" mean, Landing, 2' 8" forward, 4' 10"aft, Loaded, 5' 4" forward 5' 11" aft
Speed 16 kts (max.), 14 kts maximum continuous
LCI(L) Complement 3 Officers, 21 Enlisted
LCI(R) Complement 3 Officers, 31 Enlisted
LCI(L) Troop Capacity 6 Officers, 182 Enlisted
LCI(L) Cargo Capacity 75 tons
Armor 2" plastic splinter protection on gun turrets, conning tower and pilot house
Endurance 4,000 miles at 12 kts, loaded, 500 miles at 15 kts; and 110 tons of fuel
LCI(L) Armament four single 20mm guns one forward, one amidship, two aft, two .50 cal machine guns
LCI(R) Armament one 40mm gun, four 20mm guns, two .50 cal machine guns, six 5" rocket launchers
Fuel Capacity 130 tons, lube oil 200 gal.
Propulsion two sets of 4 GM diesels, 4 per shaft, BHP 1,600, twin variable pitch propellers

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
49k	*LCI(L)-72* firing on Morotai in the Moluccas, 15 September 1944. US Navy photo by: C. Perry	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
60k	*LCI(L)-72* at Tarakan Island, Dutch East Indies, D-Day, 1 May 1945.	Ardie Hunt for his father Arden L. Hunt SM3/c USS LCI(R)-72
148k	Aboard *LCI(L)-72* Jock Lowery MOMM1/c surveys the damage the ship sustain at Leyte, P.I., 20 October 1944.	Ardie Hunt for his father Arden L. Hunt SM3/c USS LCI(R)-72
99k	*LCI(L)-72* crew on D-Day, Panay Island, Philippines, 17 March 1945.	Ardie Hunt for his father Arden L. Hunt SM3/c USS LCI(R)-72

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association

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