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The United States Navy Memorial

Navy Memorial Honoring the Men & Women of the Sea Services

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Luce

Ship Designation: 
DD-522
Date Lost: 
Friday, May 4, 1945
Kamikaze Attack off Kerama Retto
Assigned radar picket duty off Okinawa on April 30, 1945, Luce was attacked by Japanese aircraft and successfully shot down the first attacker but not before he dropped a bomb which was a near miss that caused a power failure in the ship. ... Unable to bring her guns to bear on the second attacking aircraft, kamikaze struck the after section of the ship which knocked out the port engine, flooded the engineering spaces and caused a jammed rudder. ... Within one-half hour of attack, Luce took a heavy list to starboard and abandon ship was ordered. ... 126 of her 312 officers and men went down with the ship. The survivors were rescued by friendly forces

Lost At Sea Log

Number of sailors in this log: 148

Name Service Branchsort ascending
Cox Charles Tibbs USN
Ens Robert Pearce USN
Sea 1c Leroy Shelby USN
F 1c Henry Demenchuk USN
MM 3c Bruno Gareffa USN
F 1c Lloyd Mergel USN
Sea 1c Charles Kewer USN
Sea 2c Herbert Zeisner USN

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Prepared by CAPT R.O. Strange USN (Ret.)