Just a question about LST's at Saipan.

[dasuto247]

Working on my CVE campaign, which of course involves a lot of CAS missions in support of landings and CAP over the invasion forces.Campaign begins with Operation Forager on D-Dad at Saipan.The D-Day missions were fairly easy to build as they used LVT's to get ashore due to the coral reef.However, how did they get the vehicles ashore? Were LST's or LCt's able to to go over the reef? I read on D-DAY+1 the higgins boats were carrying troops from the APA's to a certain point, then the LVT's were taking them over the reef and into the beach. Read various accounts, looking for input.

 

[glh]

The United States forces brought with them "magic pontoon boxes" that could be bolted together to form long piers and docks. These would extend all the way from the shoreline out past the reef where transports were anchored next to them and could unload what was needed, including vehicles.

Here is an excerpt from "The Battle of Saipan -- The Final Curtain" by Cdr. David Moore, USN (Ret.):

"With this invasion fleet came the prowess of the American industrial giant. Perhaps an excellent example of a war secret was the thousands of Admiral Morell's magic pontoon boxes. Neither the Japanese at Saipan nor the Germans at Normandy could quite match this American ingenuity of producing ideas and war materials. And so it was - the Seabees devised a steel cell (5 x 5 x 7 feet) which could be bolted at the corners to form unsinkable barges, piers, or other invasion units by simply rearranging the magic cells. These had 1.5 feet draft sufficient to clear the reef lying 3 feet below the water, which extended around Saipan. The Japanese knew their boats could not clear this reef, and with coastal guns in place, they felt safe."

I would suggest that you go to Google Search, enter "LSTs at Saipan" in the search box and you're going to get quite a few hits.

 

[dasuto247]

The United States forces brought with them "magic pontoon boxes" that could be bolted together to form long piers and docks. These would extend all the way from the shoreline out past the reef where transports were anchored next to them and could unload what was needed, including vehicles.

Here is an excerpt from "The Battle of Saipan -- The Final Curtain" by Cdr. David Moore, USN (Ret.):

"With this invasion fleet came the prowess of the American industrial giant. Perhaps an excellent example of a war secret was the thousands of Admiral Morell's magic pontoon boxes. Neither the Japanese at Saipan nor the Germans at Normandy could quite match this American ingenuity of producing ideas and war materials. And so it was - the Seabees devised a steel cell (5 x 5 x 7 feet) which could be bolted at the corners to form unsinkable barges, piers, or other invasion units by simply rearranging the magic cells. These had 1.5 feet draft sufficient to clear the reef lying 3 feet below the water, which extended around Saipan. The Japanese knew their boats could not clear this reef, and with coastal guns in place, they felt safe."

I would suggest that you go to Google Search, enter "LSTs at Saipan" in the search box and you're going to get quite a few hits.

Thanks, I had googled it and got some conflicting accounts.Revised my search terms and have a better idea.