USS LCI(L)-339

History
United States
Name:	USS LCI(L)-339
Builder:	Brown Shipbuilding Company Houston, Texas
Commissioned:	30 December 1942
Struck:	Unknown
Fate:	Lost in action on Red Beach during landing at Lae[1]
General characteristics
Class & type:	LCI(L)-351-class large landing craft
Displacement:	216 t.(light), 234 t.(landing), 389 t.(loaded)
Length:	158 ft 5.5 in (48.298 m)
Beam:	23 ft 3 in (7.09 m)
Draft:	Light, 3 ft 1.5 in (0.953 m) mean Landing, 2 ft 8 in (0.81 m) fwd, 4 ft 10 in (1.47 m) aft Loaded, 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) fwd, 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) aft
Propulsion:	2 sets of 4 General Motors diesels, 4 per shaft, BHP 1,600, twin variable pitch propellers
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h) (max.) 14 knots (26 km/h) maximum continuous
Endurance:	4,000 miles at 12 knots, loaded, 500 miles at 15 knots; and 110 tons of fuel
Capacity:	75 tons cargo
Troops:	6 Officers, 182 Enlisted
Complement:	3 officers, 21 enlisted
Armament:	4 × 20 mm AA guns 2 × .50" machine guns
Armor:	2" plastic splinter protection on gun turrets, conning tower, and pilot house

USS LCI(L)-339 was an amphibious assault ship (Landing Craft Infantry - Large), commissioned in 1942 by the United States Coast Guard. She participated in the Australian Army's 9th Division's landing at Lae on 4 September 1943, where she was abandoned after being hit during a Japanese air attack. The bomb exploded on the deck forward of the bridge, killing Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Wall, the commander of the 2/23rd Battalion and 6 others, and wounding 28. Her hulk was beached, until sometime later, when her hull was towed off the beach and cast adrift, becoming a wreck on a nearby reef.

References

1. http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/15/150339.htm