Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner was Commander of Amphibious Forces Pacific and was to be in charge of operations until the beachhead was established.

On the morning of 29 March three of these boats, called kaiten, attacked the USS LSM(R)-189 but were promptly destroyed.

The northern half of the six-mile-wide invasion beach was assigned to Task Force 53, under the command of Rear Admiral Lawrence F. Reifsnider.

At 1715, 5 April 1945, LSM(R)-194 received 20mm shell holes from an enemy suicide plane as it passed forward of the conning tower.

LSM(R)-194 while patrolling at radar picket station 10 on 18 April 1945, fired at a Betty with 5"/38" and observed the plane going down in flames.

For her overall performance of duty on the radar picket line the ship was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation.

Sixteen radar picket stations were established around the island, in some cases almost 100 miles out, to give early warning of the Japanese planes which might be coming from any direction.

Their job was to sound the alarm and vector fighters to intercept before the Japanese could attack the fleet anchored off Okinawa and the Allied forces and supply dumps ashore.

Dennis L. Francis LSM Commander, Flotilla Nine for the period 2 – 20 April, Action Report indicated that these ships are not particularly suited for picket duty.

In general, it is believed that assigning them to picket duty should be avoided since it means risking the operation of a limited number of specialized ships which could be performed by any number of other landing craft whose primary function is more closely coincident with screening operations.