USS LCS(L)(3)-102
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=USS LCS(L) 102.jpg |Ship caption=USS LCS(L)-102 at Vallejo, California, 2007 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= United States |Ship flag= {{USN flag|1946}} |Ship name= LCS(L)(3)-102 |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship laid down= 13 January 1945 |Ship launched= 3 February 1945 |Ship commissioned= 17 February 1945 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship reinstated= |Ship reclassified=LSSL-102, 28 February 1949 |Ship fate=Transferred to Japan, 30 April 1953 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= yes |Ship struck= |Ship honors= one battle star |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country= Japan |Ship flag= {{flagicon|Japan|naval}} |Ship name= Himawari |Ship acquired= 30 April 1953 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= 1966 |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate=Transferred to Thailand, 18 April 1966 |Ship honours= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country= Thailand |Ship flag= {{flagicon|Thailand|naval}} |Ship name= Nakha |Ship namesake= Nakha Islands |Ship acquired= 1966 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship identification= Hull number: LSSL-751 |Ship out of service= September 2007 |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate=Returned to the US, became a museum ship since September 2007 |Ship honours= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= LCS(L)(3)-1 Class Landing Craft Support ship |Ship displacement=*250 tons (light);
|Ship length={{convert|158|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|23|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft={{convert|5|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion= Diesel engines |Ship speed= 16.5 knots (max); 12 knots (econ) |Ship range=5,500 nautical miles at 12 knots |Ship complement= 8 officers, 70 enlisted |Ship armament=*1 × 3"/50 caliber gun gun;
|Ship armor=10-lb. STS splinter shields |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox NRHP |embed=yes |name = USS LCS-102 (Landing Craft Support) |image = |caption = |map_caption = |location =Vallejo, California |nearest_city = | locmapin = |built = |architect = |architecture = | added = 13 October 2015 | area = | refnum = 15000716 |governing_body = }} |
USS LCS(L)(3)-102 is an LCS(L)(3)-1 Class Landing Craft Support ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. The vessel was completed near the end of the war and saw brief service during the Battle of Okinawa. After the war, LCS(L)(3)-102 served in China before being decommissioned in 1946 and then transferred to Japan in mid-1953. Serving under the name JDS Himawari, the vessel remained in Japan until mid-1966 when she was transferred to Thailand, becoming the HTMS Nakha. In 2007, after being retired, the ship was returned to the United States to become a museum ship.
Now the sole remaining vessel of her class, she remains docked at the site of the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, in Vallejo, CA.
Design and construction
USS LCS(L)(3)-102 was laid down 13 January 1945 at Commercial Iron Works in Portland, Oregon. The vessel was launched on 3 February 1945 and commissioned on 17 February.{{cite web|title=USS LSSL-102|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/10/05/050102.htm |website=NavSource |access-date=31 May 2014}} As built, the vessel displaced 250-tons without load, and 387 tons at full load. She was {{convert|158|ft|m}} long, with a beam of {{convert|23|ft|6|in|m}} and a draft of {{convert|5|ft|8|in|m}}. With a crew of six officers and 65 enlisted personnel, at maximum endurance she had a range of 5,500 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 12 knots; power was provided by two propellers that were driven by four General Motors 6-71 per-shaft 1,600 horse power diesel engines.
=Armament=
She was armed with an array of weapons, including: a single 3-inch gun mounted on her bow; two twin-mounted 40mm anti-aircraft guns; four single-mounted 20mm anti-aircraft guns; four .50 caliber machine-guns and ten rocket launchers. Armor included {{convert|10|lb|adj=on}} splinter shields which were placed on the gun mounts, the pilot house and the conning tower.
Her ten Mk7 rocket launchers were removed sometime after decommissioning, presumably before transfer into the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Operational history
After commissioning, the LCS(L)(3)-102 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. World War II was in its final stages at the time, but she arrived in time to participate in the Battle of Okinawa, participating in the Gunto operation between 18 and 30 June 1945.{{cite web|title=LCS-102 and YTL-434: WWII Memorials |publisher=Navy Memorieshop.com|url=http://navy.memorieshop.com/LCS-102/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212143433/http://navy.memorieshop.com/LCS-102/index.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=12 December 2015|access-date=31 May 2014}} During the battle, she was hit by a kamikaze on 11 June. Her commander, Richard Miles McCool, received the Medal of Honor for his efforts in maintaining command and leading damage control efforts to rescue crew members and save his vessel.{{cite web |title=Richard Miles McCool - Medal of Honor Citation |url=https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/richard-m-mccool |website=Congressional Medal of Honor Society |publisher=Congressional Medal of Honor Society |access-date=11 June 2025}}
She was pulled off line to perform mine removal in the Philippines, before doing the same in the Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, and rivers in China.
At the end of the war, USS LCS(L)(3)-102 served as part of the occupation forces in Japan until December 1945 when it was moved to China before being deemed surplus and decommissioned in April 1946 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Columbia River Group, in Astoria, Oregon. Redesignated Landing Ship Support Large, USS "LSSL-102", on 28 February 1949 she was soon transferred to Japan, 30 April 1953, and renamed JDS Himawari where she served until 18 April 1966 when she was brought to the US, re-transferred to Thailand and renamed HTMS Nakha (LSSL-751). She stayed in Thailand until 2007.
USS LCS(L)(3)-102 earned one battle star for her service in World War II.
Museum ship (2007-present)
File:USS LCS L 3 102 30Apr2016 450px.jpg
A transfer ceremony was held on 22 May 2007, to transfer custody of the ship from the Royal Thai Navy to the National Association of LCS(L) 1–130.{{cite web |url=http://mightymidgets.org/page15.htm |title=102 Retrieval|access-date=18 October 2017}}
In September 2007, she was loaded aboard a ship for transit from Thailand back to the United States to become a museum ship at Mare Island, California.{{cite web |url=http://www.mareislandhpf.org/ships.html |title=Mare Island Historic Park Foundation|access-date=31 May 2014}}{{cite news|title=Last WW II Landing Craft Support Ship Still Afloat in Vallejo, Calif.|url=http://photos.mercurynews.com/2013/09/11/photos-last-ww-ii-landing-craft-support-ship-still-afloat-in-vallejo-calif/|newspaper=Contra Costa Times|date=11 September 2013}} The National Association of LCS(L) 1-130 is now officially known as the Landing Craft Support Museum, and continues to preserve and restore the 102.
She is now located on Mare Island, at the site of the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The museum is open to the public from 9 to 3 Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, or by prior arrangements.
The 102 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last=Baker |first= A.D. |title=Allied Landing Craft of World War II |location=Annapolis, Maryland |publisher=United States Naval Institute Press|year=1989}}
- {{cite book|title=Mighty Midgets at War: The Saga of the LCS(L) Ships from Iwo Jima to Vietnam |first=Robin L. |last=Rielly |location=Central Point, Oregon |publisher=Hellgate Press |year=2000 |isbn=1-55571-522-2}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://usslcs102.org/ The Landing Craft Support Museum] Official Museum Website for the USS LCS(L)-102
- [http://mightymidgets.org/ MightyMidgets.org] Website of the National Association of LCS(L) 1-130
- {{navsource|10/05/050102}}
- [http://www.hnsa.org/hnsa-ships/uss-lcsl3-102/ USS LCS(L)(3)-102] Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA) Listing
{{coord|38.106128|-122.273799|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:LCS(L)(3)-102}}
Category:Ships built in Portland, Oregon
Category:Landing ships of the United States Navy
Category:World War II naval ships of the United States
Category:Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
Category:Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Royal Thai Navy
Category:Museum ships in California
Category:Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in California
Category:World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in California