USS LST-340
Encyclopedia
USS LST-340 - later known as USS Spark (IX-196) - was a that served with the U.S. Navy during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. LST-340 served in the Pacific theatre and, despite suffering severe damage from the enemy, was awarded three battle stars for her action in dangerous areas. She was declared too damaged to return to the States, so she was then reassigned as a barracks ship
Barracks ship
Barracks ship or barracks barge are terms used to indicate a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sailors. A barracks ship may also be used as a "Receiving Unit" for sailors who need temporary residence prior to being...
at Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
.
Laid down in Virginia
The third ship to be so named by the Navy, Spark was laid down as LST-340 on 17 July 1942 by the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VirginiaPortsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
; launched on 8 November 1942; and commissioned on 26 December 1942.
Assigned to the Pacific theatre
LST-340 held her shakedownShakedown (testing)
A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...
cruise in the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
from 9 January to 3 February 1943 when she returned for a short yard period. She sailed to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on the 16th and departed there on 9 March in a convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
which called at Guantanamo Bay on the 16th and sailed the next day for the Panama Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
. She arrived at Coco Solo
Coco Solo
Coco Solo was a United States Navy submarine base established in 1918 on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Panama Canal Zone, near Colón, Panama....
on 21 March and transited the Panama Canal on the 28th. The LST remained at Balboa
Balboa, Panama
Balboa is a district of Panama City, located at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.- History :The town of Balboa, founded by the United States during the construction of the Panama Canal, was named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish conquistador credited with discovering the Pacific Ocean...
until 2 April when she got under way with 11 other LST's, comprising LST Flotilla 5, for the Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
. The flotilla arrived at Bora Bora
Bora Bora
The commune of Bora-Bora is made up of the island of Bora Bora proper with its surrounding islets emerging from the coral reef, 29.3 km² in total, and of the atoll of Tupai , located north of Bora Bora...
on 24 April and headed for New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
the following week.
Solomon Islands operations
LST-340 arrived at NoumeaNouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
on 11 May and remained there until early June. She loaded army troops and sortied on 6 June with Task Group 32.3 for the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
. The ship was off Kokum Beach, Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
, from 9 to 16 June.
Severely damaged by aircraft
At approximately 1350 hours on the 16th, she was attacked by nine JapaneseEmpire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
dive bombers. Three of the planes attacked the ship immediately, dropping nine bombs in sticks of three. One plane that attacked from the port side registered two near misses with 300-pound bombs that landed about 50 feet off her starboard side and one direct hit on her main deck. Another attacked from the port bow, strafing the bow guns as it bored in and leaving over 100 holes in her port side.
The bomb explosion killed one gun crew member and nine Army passengers, wounded four sailors, and wreaked havoc with the ship itself. All communication and electrical systems were knocked out; much of the main deck was completely wrecked; the officer's quarters were gutted by fire; the galley was damaged beyond repair; there was burning fuel in the engine room; and there was no water with which to fight the fires. All troop passengers and all of the ship's complement, other than gun crews and repair parties, abandoned ship.
The LST was beached at Tenaru Beach, and the fires were brought under control four hours later with aid from . LST-340 was towed to Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....
for what repairs could be made. On 25 October, she sailed for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and a complete yard overhaul. The ship arrived at San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, on 24 November 1943 and remained in the yard until April 1944.
Mariana Islands operations
Seaworthy again, LST-340 stood out of San Francisco on 25 April 1944 bound for HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. She arrived at Maalaea Bay on 4 May and was assigned to the Northern Attack Force, Task Force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
52, for the assault on the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
.
The tank landing ship
Tank landing ship
Landing Ship, Tank was the military designation for naval vessels created during World War II to support amphibious operations by carrying significant quantities of vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore....
was moored at West Loch, Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, on 21 May, in the midst of other LST's that were loading ammunition for the invasion. At approximately 1505 hours, two LST's ( and ), moored immediately ahead of LST-340, blew up. The 340 was underway and backing down within five minutes and, as she had lines to ships on either side, pulled them to safety as destruction spread among the closely moored ships. When the explosions ceased and the fires were extinguished, six LST's and three LCT's had been sunk with heavy casualties. Over 160 men had been killed, and almost 400 had been wounded.
Tinian operations
LST-340 was off TinianTinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
during the assault on that island. On 21 June, she was unloading trucks and embarking wounded at White Beach #2. Heavy rains and high winds whipped the water, and the sea rolled in extremely heavy swells. When the ship attempted to retract from the beach, she was caught by the wind and swells and broached, suffering heavy damage.
There was a leak around the starboard shaft, which was five inches out of line; the auxiliary engine room was leaking and had two feet of water in it; the main engine room was flooded beyond control; six other compartments were ruptured; some compartments were holed through the bottom; the midships fresh water tanks were punctured; and the auxiliary engine room had a four-foot coral head protruding up through the bottom about 10 inches.
Conversion to barracks ship
The LST was refloated on 13 August and towed to Tanapag Harbor, SaipanSaipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
. On 15 August, the ship was inspected and found to be damaged beyond repair. Plans were made to convert her into a barracks ship
Barracks ship
Barracks ship or barracks barge are terms used to indicate a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sailors. A barracks ship may also be used as a "Receiving Unit" for sailors who need temporary residence prior to being...
at Tanapag.
LST-340 was reclassified as IX-196 and named Spark on 20 October 1944.
Post-war decommissioning
Spark was decommissioned on 24 October 1944 and struck from the Navy listNavy List
A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....
on 1 September 1945.
Awards
Spark received three battle stars for World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service for her services in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
, and at Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
.