The incident – together with the Port Chicago disaster two months later – led to major changes in weapons-handling practices within the United States Navy.

The LST wreckage was quickly cleared in a salvage operation and dumped at sea 3 mi (2.6 nmi; 4.8 km) south of Hawaii.

On 21 May, many of the LSTs had only half their crew aboard because, after a week of intensive training, most officers and ratings had been given shore leave.

tragedy", wrote Una, they cancelled a planned post-dinner cruise around Pearl Harbor aboard Nimitz's dark blue admiral's barge.

Fire and debris raining down on the fuel and munitions stored on the decks of other LSTs had caused an explosive chain reaction.

[2] Initial efforts by the crews to fight the fires were impeded by the heat, although some ships further away managed to muster damage control parties.

[1] Eventually tugboats and foam-carrying salvage ships from Pearl Harbor arrived to fight the spreading fires.

[1] Pearl Harbor attack survivor and historical researcher, Ray Emory, also disputes the official death toll; he believes 132 men died at West Loch.

[1] An early theory that the incident was the result of a Japanese submarine attack was dismissed as impractical because of the depth of the West Loch and the presence of anti-submarine nets.

[1] The executive officer of LST-353 stated that immediately prior to the explosion, Army stevedores were unloading mortar ammunition from a Landing craft tank (LCT) on the deck of his ship.

The practice of loading fuel and munitions aboard closely moored vessels was deemed to be necessary under the conditions of war and the layout of Pearl Harbor U.S. Navy Base.

The official inquiry was marked Top Secret and survivors and eyewitnesses were not permitted to mention the incident in letters home.

[1][6] Four days after the incident, the authorities released a one-paragraph statement noting an explosion had caused "some loss of life, a number of injuries and resulted in the destruction of several small vessels".

[1] Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Francis P. Hammerberg, a Navy diver, posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism on 17 February 1945, during salvage operations on an LST sunk in the West Loch incident.

He was the only service member in World War II, and the last person of all, to receive the Medal of Honor for a non-combat action.

[4] As a result of the incident, and the Port Chicago disaster two months later, the Navy drastically changed its ordnance-handling procedures.

[7] It has been speculated that the salvage operation undertaken to clear the loch after the disaster may have found the fifth midget submarine involved in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Some researchers hypothesis that the sub had penetrated the harbor to attack Battleship Row, and fled into the West Loch and was possibly scuttled by the two-man crew.

It is then suggested it was then salvaged from the loch bed along with the remains of the LSTs, LCTs and landing tanks, and then dumped at the ocean.