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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS LST-823

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Hotel - Juliet - Xray
NHJX

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)

LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship:

Laid down, 25 September 1944, at Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Co., Evansville, IN.

Launched, 4 November 1944

Commissioned USS LST-823, 28 November 1944, LT. Robert T. Hanson, USNR, in command

During World War II USS LST-823 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater:
LST Flotilla Twenty-Five, CAPT. H.E. Richter USN (24);
LST Group Seventy-Four, CDR. J.G. Farnsworth;
LST Division One Hundred Forty-Eight and participated in the following campaign:

Campaigns and Dates
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
Okinawa Gunto operation Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 8 to 30 June 1945

Following the World War II USS LST-823 was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East from 2 September to 1 December 1945

Driven aground during a typhoon, 16 September 1945, at Buckner Bay, Okinawa

Caught off guard inside Buckner Bay by a typhoon on 16 September 1945, USS LST-823 was driven onto the Kutaka Shima reef there.

She was pulled off a week later by the salvage ship USS Valve (ARS-28), but both engines were inoperative and the starboard engine

and shaft were badly out of alignment. While awaiting drydocking at Buckner Bay she was caught by another typhoon on 9

October which tore her loose from her moorings, drove her into two other ships, and then deposited her on a reef parallel to and 75

yards from the shore near the entrance to the Yonabaru Channel. Her entire bottom was badly damaged and holed and both main

engines were badly misaligned. USS LST-823 patched up her leaks with cement and became a fueling and provisions ship for small

craft. The ship was not refloated, and in early November an inspection and survey party noted that she would need two weeks in

drydock before she could be towed to a rear area and recommended she be decommissioned in place. Her gear was stripped away

and taken to Guam, and she was subsequently decommissioned in December 1945 and struck

Decommissioned, 1 December 1945

Struck from the Naval Register, 3 January 1946

Final Disposition, sold in May 1947, to the Oklahoma-Philippines Co., for scrapping

In November 1945 CNO directed that the hulk be sunk or destroyed, but this was not done and she became one of around

15 Okinawa typhoon wrecks that were finally sold for scrap in two batches in May and November 1947 by the State Department's

Foreign Liquidations Commission. USS LST-823 and a sister, USS LST-826, along with USS Nestor (ARB-6), three floating docks and some

smaller craft, were included in the May batch and were purchased by the Oklahoma-Philippines Co. in what was referred to as the

"Berry sale." The date of her scrapping is not known.

USS LST-823 earned one battle star for World War II service

Specifications:

Displacement

1,625 t.(lt)

4,080 t.(fl) (sea-going draft w/1675 ton load)

2,366 t.

Length 328' o.a.

Beam 50'

Draft

light 2' 4" fwd, 7' 6" aft

sea-going 8' 3" fwd, 14' 1" aft

landing 3' 11" fwd, 9' 10" aft (landing w/500 ton load)

limiting 11' 2"

maximum navigation 14' 1"

Speed 11.6 kts. (trial)

Endurance 24,000 miles @ 9kts. while displacing 3960 tons

Complement

13 officers

104 enlisted

Troop Accommodations

16 officers

147 enlisted

Boats 2 LCVP

Cargo Capacity (varied with mission - payloads between 1600 and 1900 tons)

Typical loads

One Landing Craft Tank (LCT), tanks, wheeled and tracked vehicles, artillery, construction equipment and military supplies. A ramp or elevator forward allowed vehicles access to tank deck from main deck

Additional capacity included sectional pontoons carried on each side of vessel amidships, to either build Rhino Barges or use as causeways. Married to the bow ramp, the causeways would enabled payloads to be delivered ashore from deeper water or where a beachhead would not allow the vessel to be grounded forward after ballasting

Armament (varied with availability when each vessel was outfitted. Retro-fitting was accomplished throughout WWII. The ultimate armament design for United States vessels was

2 - Twin 40MM gun mounts w/Mk. 51 directors

4 - Single 40MM gun mounts

12 single 20MM gun mounts

Fuel Capacity

Diesel 4,300 Bbls

Propulsion

two General Motors 12-567A, 900hp Diesel engines

single Falk Main Reduction Gears

three Diesel-drive 100Kw 230V D.C. Ship's Service Generators

two propellers, 1,700shp

twin rudders

Size	Image Description	Source
74k	USS LST-823 aground at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, 7 November 1945.	Russ Padden
76k	USS LST-823 aground at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, circa November 1945.	Anita Robinson for her father Lewis G. Brook S/1c V-6 USNR.
213k	USS LST-823 and *USS Inca* (IX-229) (renamed USS Gamage (IX-227)*) aground in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, after being stricken from the Naval Register in early 1946 and before their removal by scrappers circa the late 1940s. USS Inca* served under this name and number into January 1946, when local authorities learned that she had been redesignated *USS Gamage* (IX-227)** in August 1945. The hull number barely visible on her bow is probably IX-229. US National Archives, Army Signal Corps Collection photo # US Army C-6343.	Mike Smolinski

USS LST-823
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	LT. Hanson, Robert T., USNR	28 November 1944 - November 1945
02	LTjg. FitzSimmons, John H., USNR	November 1945 - 1 December 1945


Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
The USS LST Ship Memorial
LST Home Port
State LST Chapters
United States LST Association

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 24 January 2020