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USS LST-1049


U.S.S. LST-1049
Quartermaster's Log
Mar. 20, 19450800Crew 4852 came aboard LST 1049
Pittsburgh, PA.
1630Underway down the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers for New Orleans; Pilot and Ferry
Crew in charge of ship.
Mar. 30, 19450930Docked at "Commissioning Detail," Naval
Repair Base, New Orleans.
1300Quartermasters LaVigne and Loughran
sent ashore to bring all ships charts
up to date by means of Master Charts at
"Commissioning Detail."
Apr. 1, 19451800Quartermasters LaVigne and Loughran
returned aboard LST 1049, now undergoing
repairs in "Pendleton Repair Yards,"
New Orleans.
Apr. 5, 19451310Underway from "Pendleton Repair Yards"
for "Naval Supply Depot," New Orleans.
1536Moored at "Naval Supply Depot."
1705 toSix months of general supplies loaded
2430aboard.
Apr. 6, 19451132Underway for "Quarantine Anchor,"
New Orleans.
1235Anchored at "Quarantine Anchor."
Apr. 7, 19450822Underway for "Naval Ammunition Depot,"
New Orleans.
1002Moored to "Naval Ammunition Depot."
1230After receiving some ammunition,
underway for Mobile, Alabama.
Apr. 8, 19451450Moored to Mobile City Docks.
Apr. 12, 1945 1207Underway for Saint Andrew Bay, Florida.
Apr. 13, 19450825Anchored in Saint Andrew Bay.
Apr. 26, 19451736After a two week shakedown cruise, we
left for New Orleans again.
Apr. 28, 19451035Moored to "Naval Ammmunition Depot,"
New Orleans.
May 3, 19450630Underway for Naval Supply Depot,"
New Orleans. Supplies loaded at "Naval
Supply Depot."
May 5, 19451130Coast Guard Cutter 83528 hoisted on to
main deck.
May 6, 19451605Underway for Norco Fueling Docks at
Norco, Louisiana.
1928Moored to Norco Fueling Docks.
2208Underway for "Quarantine Anchor,"
New Orleans.
May 7, 19450019Anchored in "Quarantine Anchor."
1303Underway for "Naval Ammunition Depot,"
New Orleans.
1540Moored to "Naval Ammunition Depot"---
loaded ammunition.
1839Underway for Panama Canal
May 13, 19451345Moored to Pier #1, Coco Solo Naval Base,
Canal Zone.
May 15, 19451710Underway for Panama Canal Entrance.
Passed through Panama Canal with its
various locks. Quartermaster LaVigne
stood at helm about 6 ½ hours;
channels very narrow and exact steering
required. It took about 9 hours to pass
through the canal. Proceeded out of
Canal Zone and headed for San Pedro,
California.
May 28, 19451740Moored to Naval Supply Depot pier, San
Pedro, California.
June 1, 19451600Underway For Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
June 11, 19451100Moored in Pearl Harbor.
June 16, 19451205Underway for Kewalo Basin, Honolulu,
Hawaii.
1449Moored in Kewalo Basin Commenced
taking Army trucks and jeeps on tank
deck.
June 18, 19450920Took on Naval passengers.
1420Underway with LSTs 873, 902 and 1123
accompanying us, for Eniwetok Atoll,
Marshall Islands.
June 30 19451110Anchored at Eniwetok Atoll. Eniwetok Atoll
consists of a ring of coral 13 miles in diameter
just covered by the water most of the time.
The habitable land on it consists of small sand islands
which jut out of the water at various places
on the reef and which are very low.
July 7, 19451134LST 1049 underway independently for
Saipan Island, Marianas
July 11, 19451815Anchored in Saipan Harbor.
July 13, 19451810Discharged part of Naval passengers
taken aboard June 18th.
July 22, 19451148LST 1049 underway from Saipan Harbor to
take station in a convoy of 73 ships
headed for Okinawa Island, Ryukyu
Islands, Japan.
July 28, 19451318Anchored in harbor, Okinawa Island.
1820Discharged remaining Naval passengers
taken aboard June 18th.
July 29, 19450608Underway to unload Army trucks and jeeps
taken aboard June 16th.
0640Moored bow to pontoon dock to unload
Army trucks and jeeps.
1112All cargo unloaded-underway for new
anchorage.
1240Reanchored.
July 30, 19450200I had just gotten into my sack when I
smelled smoke, then saw smoke coming up
from engine room shaft. I raced topside
to see what was happening. I discovered
we were in a smoke screen. I went into
after crews quarters and slept in an
empty sack till morning.
Aug. 5, 19451132Underway for Saipan Island, Marianas.
Aug. 11, 19451059Anchored in Saipan Harbor.
Sept. 3, 19450947Underway in convoy of 13 LSTs for
Leyte, Philippine Islands.
Sept. 10, 19451130Anchored in San Pedro bay, Leyte,
Philippine Islands.
Sept. 30, 19451124Underway to Bugo, Mindinao, Philippine
Islands, in company with LST 809.
Oct. 1, 19450811Beached at Bugo, Mindinao, Philippine
Islands.
1425Loaded repair trucks on main deck.
Oct. 2, 19450812Loaded 2 (40 ton) tank towers and other
trucks on tank deck. Took on "540th
TANK REPAIR UNIT." 168 men and 9
officers.
Oct. 10, 19452232Retracting from beach, underway for
Leyte, Philippine Islands, in company
with LST 809.
Oct. 11, 19451750Anchored in San Pedro Bay, Leyte,
Philippine Islands.
Oct. 15, 19451219Underway for San Fernando, Luzon,
Philippine Islands, in company with
LSTs 643, 669, 809, 811, 830 and 1018.
Oct. 18, 19451851Anchored in Lingayan Gulf off San
Fernando, Luzon, Philippine Islands.
Oct. 19, 19451156Underway with same convoy unit for Hiro,
Honshu, Japan.
Oct. 26, 19450800After a very slow, rough trip, arrived
at Bungo Suido, Japan, and proceeded up
this inland sea to Hiroshima Wan in a
single column.
1705Anchored off Mitsugahama, Shikoku
island, Japan, for the night.
Oct. 27, 19450648Underway for Hiro Wan, Honshu.
1031Anchored in Hiro Wan.
1545Underway to beach ship on airstrip
Hiro.
1708Completed the most difficult beaching
this ship has ever made.
1845Commenced unloading "504th TANK REPAIR
UNIT."
Oct. 28, 19451458Retracted from beach.
1519Anchored in Hiro Wan, Honshu.
Nov. 1 1945 0613Underway for Saipan Island, Marianas.
In the evening, reached the open sea and
formed a convoy with LSTs 491, 643,
809, 811, 830, 953 and 1018.
Nov. 7, 19450751Anchored in Saipan Harbor, Marianas.
Nov. 8, 19450555Underway to beach in Tanapag Harbor,
Saipan.
0725Beached at Tanapag Harbor. In
afternoon, loaded amphibious tanks on
tank deck.
Nov. 9, 19450620Retracting from beach.
0725Anchored in Saipan Harbor.
Nov. 27, 19451759Underway for Guam, Marianas, in a convoy
with LSTs 953 and 978, and LSMs 6, 28, 39 and 78.
Nov. 28, 19450855Anchored in Apra Harbor, Guam, Marianas.
Spent 7 days at Guam. While here, the
ships crew was reduced to peacetime
compliment of 74 men and 5 officers,
from 105 men and 9 officers. Those
persons qualifying for discharge were
taken off the ship and placed on ships
heading for the States.
Dec. 5, 19451130Underway for beach and unloaded
amphibious tanks.
1730Underway from Guam to Ponape Island,
Caroline Islands, in convoy with LSTs
545, 643 and 809. Ponape was one of
many Japanese held and
Japanese colonized islands in the
Pacific that the U.S. bypassed. Now
that these islands have surrendered,
the Japanese are being removed and
sent back to Japan.
Dec. 10, 19451243Anchored in Ponape Harbor.
Dec. 12, 19451100Commenced loading Japanese on tank deck
for transit to Japan.
Dec. 13, 19450925Began taking on 100 additional Japanese.
1020Completed loading Japanese:
Civilians-536
Army--------10
TOTAL 546
1345Underway for Japan in convoy with LSTs
545, 643 and 809.
1925LST 545 forced to leave convoy and
return to Ponape because of engine
trouble.
Dec. 15, 19450445Japanese baby boy born---Ryoichi Zukeyama
Father-Ryozai Zukeyama
Mother-Oto Miyazato
0759Changed course for Saipan Island,
Marianas, in expectance of engine
trouble. Twice during this afternoon,
generators stopped working causing
all power and lights to shut off all
over ship (low on fuel and purifiers not
working).
1400Another Japanese baby boy born-Shunyo Yazawa
Father----Tadashi Yazawa
Mother---Haruno Yazawa
Dec. 16, 1945This morning, the baby Shunyo Yazawa,
who died, was put to rest in a wooden box.
The rest of the trip to Saipan Island was
accomplished by replacing filters to clean
fuel every hour or less this necessitated building
new filters out of old frames daily by engineers.
Dec. 18, 19450012Anchored in Saipan Harbor.
1055Moored alongside fuel barge.
1515Completed fueling.
1645Underway for Yokohama, Japan.
Dec. 24, 19451004Anchored near Yokohama, Japan.
1355Commenced unloading Japanese.
1638All Japanese unloaded.
LST 1049 spent time until January 4,
1946, near Yokohama, Japan. Yokohama,
Tokyo, Yokosuka, Uraga are villages in
this area.
Dec. 27, 1945I had liberty in Tokyo. United States
aircraft had performed with great
thoroughness and extremely great
accuracy in dropping bombs here.. the
whole industrial area extending 20 miles
along the railroad between Tokyo and
Yokohama was leveled while the railroad
and the bridges were untouched. In
addition, single buildings were picked
out in the middle of town while
surrounding buildings were not hit.
Early in 1946, I was sent home to New
York City on an emergency leave of
absence. I never returned aboard LST
1049. After a short leave of absence, I
spent the rest of my naval service
performing tug boat duty transporting
ships to various storage areas.
Joseph A. La Vigne
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