January 29, 1945 While loading depth charges at Guadalcanal the cargo ship Serpens AK-97 exploded. Little known stories from World War 2 are no less important than the great battles. The story of the Serpens is one of those. The ship was manned not by the Navy but by the Coast Guard and had been a valuable asset in the Pacific war. Shuttling needed cargoes from island to island reinforcing with arms and equipment the men fighting the bloody campaigns on the miserable insect infested islands that needed to be won to beat Japan.

The explosion of the Serpens took the lives of one hundred and ninety eight US Coast Guardsmen, fifty seven US Army soldiers, a public health service doctor and a soldier on shore who was killed by shrapnel. Only two men who were on board the ship when it exploded survived.

While at first it was thought to have been enemy action which caused the explosion it was determined that the explosion was internal and was an "accident intrinsic to the loading process."

The bodies of those killed were buried at Guadalcanal but were removed to Arlington National Cemetery in 1949. In 1950 a monument was dedicated over the grave site.

USS Serpens AK-97

My Brother, Martin P. Baronich served on the U.S.S. Serpens AK-97 until an accident aboard ship killed him. The date was October 15, 1943. I would appreciate any information you could get for me.

Sincerely Robert W. Baronich

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