USS LSM ( R ) - 195 LSM ( R ) - 195 was laid down at Charleston Navy Yard . The ship was commissioned on 21 November 1944 , Lt . ( j . g . ) William E . Woodson , USNR , in command Service history ( Turner & Woodson ) . During World War II the ship was assigned to the Asiatic Pacific theater . At that time the fleet was under the command of Admiral Spruance and named the Fifth Fleet . Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner was Commander of Amphibious Forces Pacific and was to be in charge of operations until the beachhead was established . The Kerama Retto islands were a small chain of islands 15 miles west of the southwest tip of Okinawa . The invasion of the Kerma Retto was an opportunity to break in all twelve of the 188 - class LSM ( R ) s . One of the reasons that Admiral Turner wanted to capture Kerama Retto was his knowledge that the Japanese Sea Raiding Units had suicide boats hidden there . On the morning of 29 March three of these boats attacked the USS LSM ( R ) - 189 but were promptly destroyed . The northern half of the six - mile - wide invasion beach was assigned to Task Force 53 , under the command of Rear Admiral Lawrence F . Reifsnider . Embarked were the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions under Major General Roy S . Geiger . The northern support craft included USS LSM ( R ) - 194 , USS LSM ( R ) - 195 , USS LSM ( R ) - 196 , USS LSM ( R ) - 197 , USS LSM ( R ) - 198 , and USS LSM ( R ) - 199 . On 3 May 1945 the 188 - class LSM ( R ) ' s were put to the test when the Japanese launched their fifth kikusui attack on 3 May . Picket station 10 was the hardest hit . Shortly before dusk , the destroyer was hit by a series of six kamikaze s , suffering 45 killed or missing and 49 wounded . The ship survived , but was later decommissioned because it wasn ' t worth repairing . About the same time , approximately 20 planes attacked destroyer . She was crashed by four of them and sank within 12 minutes of the first hit . She lost 30 dead or missing and 79 wounded . LSM ( R ) 195 was also on Picket Station 10 and while rushing to the aid of the Aaron Ward and the Little was likewise crashed by a kamikaze . The crash started her rockets exploding and knocked out the fire main and auxiliary pumps . LSM ( R ) 195 had to be abandoned and , after being ripped by heavy explosions , sank . The following day the ordeal for the LSM ( R ) ' s reached its tragic climax . USS LSM ( R ) - 190 was patrolling at Picket Station 12 . Not long after sunrise the anticipated kamikazes arrived and were met by American combat air patrol . Several of the Japanese planes managed to get through and attack the ships on this station . Three kamikazes crashed LSM ( R ) 190 . The ship that had seen so much previous action and had been credited with rescuing 180 survivors of other stricken ships was herself sunk . In the same attack the destroyer was sunk , carrying 126 of her 312 officers and men with her . At the same time as LSM ( R ) 190 was fighting her final battle , LSM ( R ) 194 was facing the same fate at Picket Station 1 . W . E . Woodson CO LSMR - 195 survived the sinking and reported on 5 May 1945 : Two planes were observed approaching , the closest identified as NICK . This plane was taken under fire by the 5 " / 38 and both 40MM guns as he circled and approached from the starboard . The other plane , started an attack run on our port side coming in at a very low altitude and maneuvering violently to confuse our two port 20MM gunners who had taken him under fire . This plane was strafing on its way in and hit the port side ripping the main deck all the way into midships . The explosion and depth of damage indicated that this plane carried a bomb . The rockets that were loaded in the launchers topside began exploding in every direction as the fire spread from one broken rocket motor to another causing a great deal of shrapnel and fragments to be in the air at all times . These rockets were propelled only short distances with numerous hits about the deck causing fires . The plane or bomb had also penetrated the forward assembly room causing assembled rockets to be propelled throughout the ship and the area surrounding it .