Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS LCI(L)-324

Bizerte, Tunisia, at the time of this event was the home for the LCI Flotillas which had participated in the Sicilian landings. The LCIs continued to provide a shuttle service to the Army forces on Sicily by transporting reinforcements and supplies to the island and returning to Bizerte with prisoners of war. This is the story of the crew of LCI(L)-324 coming to the rescue of the crew of LCI(L)-1 when the latter was sunk by Germany bombers just outside the harbor at Bizerte on 17 August 1943.

In the summer of 1943 Bizerte was within easy reach of Sicily. Every few nights the Germans would come over and bomb the harbor. There were quite a few searchlights in the area, and enough anti-aircraft fire that the Germans paid a price for these raids. It was axiomatic that the small ships were never to fire at night. They had no long range guns and no radar fire-control equipment. If the planes were high enough to be in the searchlights they were out of 20mm range, and if they weren't in the searchlights the crews didn't know where to shoot. The general idea was for the LCIs to attract as little attention as possible. Firing, lights, a wake, movement, or anything which might attract attention increased one's chances of becoming a target. The LCI(L)-324 crew thought that idea had been driven home very well when an LCI anchored on her beam had opened up at a searchlighted plane one night. The LCI(L)-324 crew watched a stick of bombs walk across the water and straddle the offending ship. The crew can well remember the night when the ship was lying still minding her own business when some ambitious bomber laid a stick of bombs down in a line leading directly toward them.

In July or August a lot of Bizerte's anti-aircraft batteries were moved up to Sicily for use in the campaign there. The Germans apparently fount out about this and mounted a raid from their large air base at Foggia of between 80 and 100 planes. The alert signal for Bizerte was a red rocket, sort of like a one-shot Roman candle. The ships would tune to the action frequency and in a few minutes they would hear a voice say "Red Bizerte". which make it official. More often then not these events were preceded by wild tracer fire, and the crump of bombs.

On the night of 17 August 1943 some of the LCIs were held up at the docks later then usual and were not in their assigned anchorage before sunset, which was the normal procedure. The late arriving LCIs at the anchorage were just standing into the lake about half way to their anchorage when the alarm rocket went up. The ships kept tearing down the lake at flank speed and went to general quarters. A chandelier flare opened up astern LCI(L)-324, then others in succession until there was a line of them in the darkening sky. Not a shot had been fired. LCI(L)-324 stopped all engines and waited for the next act.

It was to be an eventful evening, there was a slight current in the lake and the flares which hung interminable over the ships were blinding and confusing, but by using her engines a little at a time LCI(L)-324 avoided hitting anything.The planes were after Delta (AR-9) which on this night was in the lake. An old British cruiser converted for general repair work was lying just off the channel, oppose LaPercherie. There was an oil pier right ahead of the British ship and a bomb fired some oil stores there. From LCI(L)-324 you could see the glare over the hill and though the ship itself had been hit.

About this time LCI(L)-1 began overtaking the other LCIs in the column creeping towards their berths. LCI(L)-1 ran down the port side of LCI(L)-324 at full bore appearing to want to pass close aboard. He ran down the ships port side and then turned hard and ran out on the LCI(L)-324s quarter. LCIs have 1800 horsepower, a tunnel stern, and twin screws that will turn up 600 rpm. As a result, they leave a lot of cavitated water. It isn't easy for a plane to see much detail at night, even with the flares, but the Germans surely were not going to miss the big white wake left by LCI(L)-1. Planes began attacking passing low over LCI(L)-324 and ran down the wake laid out by LCI(L)-1 lying a bomb on her main deck, starboard side, just abaft of the beam. LCI(L)-1 took a heavy list to starboard and immediately caught fire, but her momentum carried her from where she was hit, about 200 yards off LCI(L)-324s quarter, right into the side of a liberty ship loaded with ammunition. The crew of the liberty ship were at short stay as an air raid precaution and were able to get their anchor up and clear away before their load was touched off or they were bombed.

LCI(L)-324 was not yet at her anchorage so was the logical choice to pick-up LCI(L)-1 crew members in the water. She had spilled off her crew as she went along, some having been blown off by the initial explosion and some having gone over the side later. The glare of the fire make it fairly easy to spot men in the water. Some of LCI(L)-324s crew went in the water to help those who were injured or stunned.

By this time the fire was setting off the burning ship's ready ammunition, and some of it was singing around. This did not deter the efforts of those engaged in the rescue operation, though it may have accelerated them a little. Another LCI and some small boats were helping, and it did not take long to pickup all the survivors.

The ready ammunition kept popping as LCI(L)-324 edged closer to the stricken LCI(L)-1. The crew of LCI(L)-324 was hoping to get a line across to the badly listing ship and tow her onto the beach. It was a futile effort as flames crackled and popped loudly over the length of the ship. The conn was a tower of flame. Suddenly the burning wooden mast snapped off and fell hissing into the water. The ruptured fuel tanks were leaking oil and a pool of it was burning around the stern. Just as LCI(L)-324 was closing the last few feet to get a tow line onto LCI(L)-1 she suddenly capsized. Her stern quickly sank and when it hit the bottom the bow sunk much more slowly.

As quickly as it all started it all stopped. The bombers were gone now and the searchlights had been turned off. The patch of fire burned a little longer, then diminished and flickered out. The lake was now very dark. It was again a quite summer night.

Contributed by Paul Mascatelli USS LCI(L)-324

Back to the Navsource Photo Archives Main Page

Back To The Amphibious Ship Type Index

Back To The Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) Photo Index

Back To The LCI(L)-324 Main Page

Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.

This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo