Coxswain Bob Canavan's deadly odyssey
on Iron Bottom Sound, Guadalcanal
Story by William H. Thiesen, Ph.D., Coast Guard Atlantic Area
In August 1942, during the initial stages of World War II's
Guadalcanal campaign, the local waters of Iron Bottom Sound
concealed numerous Japanese submarines. With few Allied
patrol craft available to defend against this silent but deadly
menace, the Coast Guard landing craft based at Guadalcanal
served as nightly anti-submarine patrols.
Each of the patrol's three LCPs (Landing Craft Personnel)
took responsibility for a different part of Iron Bottom Sound.
An early design of landing craft with a top speed of only eight
knots, the LCP carried a crew of three and boasted a snub-nosed
bow supporting side-by-side machine gun tubs. Each position
held a .30 caliber air-cooled Lewis machine gun with circular
pan-shaped magazines that attached to the top of the firing
mechanism. The coxswain's helm and engine controls were
located behind the tandem gun emplacements. The crews fitted
their boats with depth charges set for fifty feet, a depth that
could have sunk the enemy sub as well as the landing craft.
On Tuesday, August 18th, 1942, Coxswain Robert "Bob"
Canavan volunteered to pilot one of the evening's anti-
submarine patrol boats. Canavan's friends and fellow Coast
Guardsmen, BM1 Charles Stickney, MM3 John Alcorn and BM2
Charles Williams volunteered to join him. Together with two
Marines, the crew embarked on a journey from which only one
man would return. While the other LCPs deployed for their
a transport deploying an LCP (Landing Craft Personnel) for the landings at guadalcanal. notice the solid bow, tandem machine gun tubs and the stern
where depth charges were mounted on the anti-submarine patrol boats. (Courtesy of the U.S. navy)
ReseRvist Magazine
a light on yesteRyeaR
46 RESERVIST � Issue 2 • 2016