The USS RICH (DE 695) was a Destroyer Escort performing her duties off the coast of Utah Beach on the 6th, 7th and 8th of June, 1944. On the morning of the 8th she was ordered to move further inland to aid a ship that had hit a mine. while moving into position the RICH also fell victim to a mine. Watertender First Class Donald Joseph Lawrence recalled that morning:
“I was at GQ in the fireroom … I had just made an entry in the log at nine o’clock and had turned away when an explosion rocked the ship. It felt like we were picked out of the water and then violently thrown back again. The coffee pot flew across the room. Buckets crashed around our heads, and the floor plates came loose. The floor plate in the engine room was ripped up and hurled into the condenser. Then the lights went out, and as I picked myself up I could hear the hiss of overheated steam.”
Eighty-nine crewmembers were lost.
– from Amazon:
The Last Voyage of the USS Rich
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