Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-5-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–19 Hawaiian Historical Society. Hawaiian Journal of History, Vol. 2-4, 1968, p. 74.

–19 Salecker, Gene. “The Second Pearl Harbor.” WarfareHistoryNetwork.com, February 2017.

–19 Schmitt, Robert C. Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, p. 74.

–19 Speakman, Cummins E. Mowee: An Informal History of the Hawaiian Island. 1978, 171.

Narrative Information

Salecker, Gene E. “The Second Pearl Harbor.” WarfareHistoryNetwork.com, Feb 2017:

“….On the night of May 14, while the LSTs [landing ship, tank] and other ships were moving toward the rehearsal beach on Maui [scheduled to take part in the upcoming invasion of the Japanese island of Saipan in the Marianas], the weather turned downright nasty. Strong winds and rolling waves battered the various craft as they moved through the darkened waters. At 2:19 am on May 15, the chains holding down LCT 988 on top of LST 485 snapped. ‘The weather was rough and the strain on the cables was too great,” reported Marine Corps historian Carl Hoffman. “The craft was pitched overboard with the sleeping men aboard. Nineteen men were either missing or killed, and five were injured as the craft was rammed and sunk by the next LST in column.’”

Schmitt: “May 1944: During rehearsals for the assault on Saipan, held at Maalaea Bay and Kahoolawe between May 14 and 20, an LCT[1] in which Marines were sleeping was pitched overboard from the deck of LST-485 by heavy seas, owing to insufficient lashing, and 19 men were lost.”[2] (Schmitt, Robert C. Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, p. 74.)

Sources

Hawaiian Historical Society. Hawaiian Journal of History, Vol. 2-4, 1968, p. 74.

Salecker, Gene E. “The Second Pearl Harbor.” WarfareHistoryNetwork.com, February 2017. Accessed 4-5-2024 at: https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-second-pearl-harbor/

Schmitt, Robert C. Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, 86 pages. Accessed 9-20-2012 at: Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii – eVols – University of Hawaii. Accessed at: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fevols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10524%2F150%2FJL03074.pdf%3Fsequence%3D2&ei=UPSvVK2bLoO4yQTO74L4DA&usg=AFQjCNHER9A57xAr6d0m9mJcnsc4F2Z8Gg&bvm=bv.83339334,d.aWw

Speakman, Cummins E. Mowee: An Informal History of the Hawaiian Island. 1978.

[1] Tank Landing Craft.

[2] Cites Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. VIII. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1953, p. 171.

1944 — May 14, heavy seas, sleeping Marines in LCT pitched overboard off LST-485, ~Maui HI–19