Swndii-=
5.
Most of the discbrge and 10sUU
of ships was done at
Miwetok Island. There is ody one small stretch of beach on the
island where LSTIS can beach. All the work of LST’S was dcne at this
point. Cargo ships were worked in the stream by use of lighters,
primrily I,CWs. Two steel barges were avafiable and were used to
SOIM extent. No tugs were on hand so thet the only means of towing
these dumb barges was by use of LCMts or an LCI. Neither of these
methods proved to be very satisfactory. Cranes available for use on
tha beach were inadequate. A Northwesten
35 ton crone was pulled
off the scrap heap and rehabilitated. It was deteriorated so that
only about 1S tons could be lifted. However, thie crane was used for
most of the work on the beach ●nd the beach operation would have been
severely handicappedwithout it. The only other cranes available
were the Crawler type, 7 to 10 ton, and were too light for handling
much of the equipnmnt. In discharge and loading operations, pallets
were used normally for handling general cargo. Car@ was loaded on
flatbed trailers or 2! ton trucks which were in turn placed in
lighters and mnred to the ship for working. The use of flat bed
trailers facilitatedcar@ handllng
operations since the trailer could
be pulled from the beach to the warehouse and left there for unloading
when depot labor ws e ●vailable. It WS61Sound that placing landing rnt
on the beach where trucks, bulldozers, etc., were working was unsatisfactory. The mt
breaks off and is pulled into the water whereit IMy
foul the propellers of landing craft. However, landingmat is useful
for hard-stands in depot areas.
Section XVII