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LST 325 steaming from Indiana to Fort Madison
By Bob Livingston/Daily Republican Register of Mount Carmel, Ill.
The only World War II ship that is still operational left its berth Sunday morning on a month-long journey on the inland waterways.
LST 325, docked permanently in Evansville, Ind., on the Ohio River, left on a trek that will take it down the river to Cairo, Ill., then up the Mississippi River for visits to Hannibal, Mo. (Aug. 21-25), Moline, Ill. (Aug. 28-Sept. 2), Clinton, Iowa (Sept. 4-8) and Fort Madison (Sept. 10-14). It will return to Evansville on Sept. 18.
One of the 40-man crew will be Dave Schrader of Lancaster. Schrader is a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam era. He was stationed on an ammunition ship as an electrician.
Schrader will serve as a ship's electrician and crane operator aboard LST 325 on the trip to Mark Twain country in Missouri and north to Clinton and Fort Madison.
The official Web site of USS LST Ship Memorial is www.lstmemorial.org and the site includes progress reports concerning the voyage.
The 327-foot-long LST 325 has quite a history. It was launched in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on Oct. 27, 1942, just 10 months after the United Stated entered World War II, and commissioned on Feb. 1, 1943. In March 1943, it transited the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea where it took part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.
Next, it was part of the Northern Attack Force in support of the Salerno invasion on the Italian mainland. LST 325 made three trips to the Salerno beachhead, carrying troops from the British Empire.
Then the ship became part of the largest armada in history, part of the approximately 5,000-vessel fleet that participated in Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.
Part of the reserve fleet, LST 325 went ashore on June 7, 1944, the day after the invasion. The ship, which displaces nearly 1,500 tons of water, when empty, made 40 trips across the English Channel in support of the invasion troops.
LST 325 and its sister ships could carry just over 2,300 tons of cargo. The designation - LST (Landing Ship Tanks) - meant that it could carry tanks, which it did, 20 total, 10 to a side. It also carried troops. On the return trips to Great Britain, it carried wounded soldiers. LSTs of this class had a 50-foot beam, a draft of between 3-4 feet and could cruise between 10-13 knots.
The ship carried a crew of 120 men who slept in bunks stacked four high, lined against the bulkheads. As many as four men shared a “rack,” as the bunks are still called to this day, sleeping at different times. Sanitary facilities were quite restricted in size.
The ships were lightly armed, with only 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, both forward and aft. They also traveled in convoys with other heavily armed ships around them.
The pilot house, or bridge, was located near the stern. Officers quarters as well as the radio room and chart house were housed just aft of the bridge. The enlisted men slept below decks.
Just before New Year's Eve 1944, LST 325 helped rescue more than 700 men from the Empire Javelin, a troop ship that had been torpedoed off the French coast. It departed European waters in early May 1945 and arrived back in Norfolk, Va., at the end of the month.
LST 325 was being readied for service in the Pacific Thearter of Operations and was to sail the next day when work came that Japan had surrendered. It was sent to Panama, then to Green Cove Springs, Fla., and decommissioned on July 2, 1946. LST 325 was reactivated for Military Sea Transport Service in 1951 and used in Arctic operations.
The ship was decomissioned in 1961 and put in reserve. In 1964 it was transferred to the Greek Navy after being reactivated in 1963. It served in the Greek Navy until 1999 when it was decomissioned once more.
The USS Ship Memorial acquired the ship in 2000 through an act of Congress and used a skeleton crew of 29, average age 72, to sail it back to the U.S. It arrived in Mobile, Ala, on Jan. 10, 2001.
Although built in Philadelphia, the ship is home ported in Evansville because of the shipyard located there during the war. The shipyard employed more than 19,000 people, many of them women.
The Evansville Shipyard during World War II built 167 LSTs.
LST 325, docked permanently in Evansville, Ind., on the Ohio River, left on a trek that will take it down the river to Cairo, Ill., then up the Mississippi River for visits to Hannibal, Mo. (Aug. 21-25), Moline, Ill. (Aug. 28-Sept. 2), Clinton, Iowa (Sept. 4-8) and Fort Madison (Sept. 10-14). It will return to Evansville on Sept. 18.
One of the 40-man crew will be Dave Schrader of Lancaster. Schrader is a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam era. He was stationed on an ammunition ship as an electrician.
Schrader will serve as a ship's electrician and crane operator aboard LST 325 on the trip to Mark Twain country in Missouri and north to Clinton and Fort Madison.
The official Web site of USS LST Ship Memorial is www.lstmemorial.org and the site includes progress reports concerning the voyage.
The 327-foot-long LST 325 has quite a history. It was launched in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on Oct. 27, 1942, just 10 months after the United Stated entered World War II, and commissioned on Feb. 1, 1943. In March 1943, it transited the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea where it took part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.
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Then the ship became part of the largest armada in history, part of the approximately 5,000-vessel fleet that participated in Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.
Part of the reserve fleet, LST 325 went ashore on June 7, 1944, the day after the invasion. The ship, which displaces nearly 1,500 tons of water, when empty, made 40 trips across the English Channel in support of the invasion troops.
LST 325 and its sister ships could carry just over 2,300 tons of cargo. The designation - LST (Landing Ship Tanks) - meant that it could carry tanks, which it did, 20 total, 10 to a side. It also carried troops. On the return trips to Great Britain, it carried wounded soldiers. LSTs of this class had a 50-foot beam, a draft of between 3-4 feet and could cruise between 10-13 knots.
The ship carried a crew of 120 men who slept in bunks stacked four high, lined against the bulkheads. As many as four men shared a “rack,” as the bunks are still called to this day, sleeping at different times. Sanitary facilities were quite restricted in size.
The ships were lightly armed, with only 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, both forward and aft. They also traveled in convoys with other heavily armed ships around them.
The pilot house, or bridge, was located near the stern. Officers quarters as well as the radio room and chart house were housed just aft of the bridge. The enlisted men slept below decks.
Just before New Year's Eve 1944, LST 325 helped rescue more than 700 men from the Empire Javelin, a troop ship that had been torpedoed off the French coast. It departed European waters in early May 1945 and arrived back in Norfolk, Va., at the end of the month.
LST 325 was being readied for service in the Pacific Thearter of Operations and was to sail the next day when work came that Japan had surrendered. It was sent to Panama, then to Green Cove Springs, Fla., and decommissioned on July 2, 1946. LST 325 was reactivated for Military Sea Transport Service in 1951 and used in Arctic operations.
The ship was decomissioned in 1961 and put in reserve. In 1964 it was transferred to the Greek Navy after being reactivated in 1963. It served in the Greek Navy until 1999 when it was decomissioned once more.
The USS Ship Memorial acquired the ship in 2000 through an act of Congress and used a skeleton crew of 29, average age 72, to sail it back to the U.S. It arrived in Mobile, Ala, on Jan. 10, 2001.
Although built in Philadelphia, the ship is home ported in Evansville because of the shipyard located there during the war. The shipyard employed more than 19,000 people, many of them women.
The Evansville Shipyard during World War II built 167 LSTs.
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