—Lieutenant John Harper, skipper, LCS-52
The Asiatic-Pacific Theater in World War II culminated with a grueling, bloody amphibious campaign to capture one Japanese-held seabound stronghold after another. To deliver soldiers to the various beachheads along the sea route to Japan, the U.S. Navy relied largely on LCVPs—landing craft vehicle personnel, or Higgins boats—each capable of transporting up to three dozen GIs. Little more than 36-foot bargelike shells made largely of plywood, LCVPs left their human cargoes vulnerable to intensive enemy fire both en route to and on lowering their ramps onto the beaches.
The Higgins boats did, however, have guardian angels—powerful amphibious support ships popularly known as the “Mighty Midgets.”
In 1943, recognizing the need for a large, close-in fire support vessel that was not simply a modified troop carrier, the Navy contracted the George Lawley & Son Shipyard of Neponset, Mass., to design the first of its kind. Between May 1944 and March 1945 Lawley & Son and both the Commercial Iron Works and the Albina Engine & Machine Works of Portland, Ore., built 130 such vessels for service in the Pacific.
Each ship was given a number rather than a name. Their official designation was Landing Craft Support (Large) (Mark 3)—commonly shortened to LCS(L) or simply LCS —but on proving themselves in action the vessels became known collectively throughout the Navy as the “Mighty Midgets.” With its 158-foot-6-inch length, 23-foot-3-inch beam and a flat
