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On 23 November, Japanese submarine I-175 arrived off
Makin.
The temporary task group, built around Rear
Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix three escorts - Liscome
Bay, Coral Sea and Corregidor - was steaming 20
miles southwest of Butaritari Island at 15 knots. At
0430 on 24 November, reveille was made in Liscome
Bay. The ship went to routine general quarters at
0505 as flight crews prepared their planes for dawn
launchings.
There was no warning of a submarine in the area
until about 0510 when a lookout shouted: "Here comes
a torpedo!" The torpedo struck abaft the after
engine room and hit the aircraft bomb stockpile,
causing a major explosion engulfing the entire
vessel and sending shrapnel out 5,000 yards. "It
didn't look like a ship at all", wrote Lieutenant
John C. W. Dix, communications officer on Hoel, "We
thought it was an ammunition dump....She just went
whoom — an orange ball of flame."
At 0533, Liscome Bay listed to starboard and
sank, carrying 53 officers and 591 enlisted men —
including Admiral Mullinix, Captain Wiltsie, and
famous Pearl Harbor survivor Cook Third Class Doris
Miller, down with her. Only 272 of her crew of 916
were rescued by Morris, Hughes and Hull.
Counting the sailors who went down with the
carrier, American casualties of the assault on Makin
exceeded the strength of the entire Japanese
garrison of that island. Future legal scholar Robert
Keeton, then a Navy lieutenant, survived the attack.
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This
Liscome Bay model
features:
- Plank-on-frame,
hollow hull construction.
- All parts are wood and metal.
- Light 'rust' and camouflage
appearance that only true master modelers can
achieve.
32" long $1,200
S & H is $90
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