NAVY'S HUSHED-UP TRAGEDY AT WEST LOCH

Sea Classics, Nov 2005 by Oliver, A Alan

NO ACT OF GOD?

Although a virtual legion of witnesses were called from every level of involvement including civilian dock workers, enlisted men, Army personnel and explosives experts, the exact cause of the explosion at West Loch was never really proven, even in subsequent reviews of the investigation. Two major causes emerged as most likely: Either a fused mortar round was accidently dropped while unloading the LCT aboard LST-353, or the initial explosion was caused by gasoline vapors. A plausible scenario could be established for either cause, especially when it was repeatedly pointed out in testimony that noncrewman were frequently reminded the smoking lamp was out due to the presence of the hazardous fuel.

Reviewing the Court's findings in a letter written 17 July 1944, Adm. Ernest J. King, Commander in Chief of the US Fleet, pulled no punches in his closing assessment that the disaster at West Loch was clearly "Not an act of God." However, no recommendations for courts martial nor career-ruining letters of reprimand resulted from the Pearl Harbor Inquiry. In reviewing the volumes of testimony by Naval and Coast Guard personnel (five of the 29 LSTs were USCG-manned), many errors and deficiencies were noted and several skippers were called to account for inadequate reactions to the emergency. However, the nerve-shattering shock of the explosions and the inability of most vessels to be able to quickly slip their lines under such torturous conditions was taken into account with instructions to revise and improve certain training regimens. Despite L/Cmdr. Hoyt's critical assessment of some crew's behavior or possible misconduct, the Court mercifully made no recommendations for punitive or disciplinary actions.

In the Navy's divine wisdom, clamping a TOP SECRET status on the tragedy caused much evidence that might have been of importance to be lost because of the interval of time before the incident was declassified and made public in 1960 - 16-years after its occurrence. Combined with the fact that the larger issue of the successful execution of Operation Forager was only delayed one day by the West Loch fiasco served to ameliorate official interest in the disaster. With 1051 LSTs on its roster, it might appear that the US Navy considered these ocean-going ferries little better than expendable. In any event, LSTs quickly summoned from various other flotillas, plus the expeditious repair of the fire-damaged ships, allowed Forager to essentially come off as planned three weeks later.

Nevertheless, with the men and ships involved in the tragedy soon dispersed all over the world and the lid of secrecy assuring no further critical analysis by watchdogs or Washington, the events ofthat long-ago day continue to be shrouded in mystery more than 60-years later. Further erasing any evidence of the happening was the intense salvage effort which followed the incident. Within weeks of the disaster, all of the wrecks save one were removed. Well-applied coats of paint and reconstruction of damaged buildings and piers soon left no visible vestige of the billowing palls of oily black smoke which once rose high over secluded West Loch. That the site was restricted from civilian inspection further served to suppress prying eyes and investigations. These factors, the passage of time and nature's way of healing its blemishes leave the West Loch saga seldom mentioned in history books.