Combat· World War II
USS McKean
The McKean was an old destroyer rebuilt as a fast troop transport.
By late 1943 she had already carried troops to landings across the Solomons. On a run up to Bougainville she was loaded with Marines of the 3d Battalion, 21st Marines, heading from Guadalcanal to the fighting front. In the dark early hours, a lone Japanese plane slipped through the convoy and put a torpedo into her starboard side. The hit set off a magazine and ruptured her oil tanks, and within moments the after part of the ship was a wall of flame. She sank quickly. Other destroyers raced in to pull survivors from the burning, oil-covered water, but many of the embarked Marines and crew were lost. The disaster showed how dangerous even the supply runs to Bougainville could be while enemy aircraft still roamed the area.
Podcast episodes on World War II
Record no. 865