I usually don’t post during the week, but this is a post based on my experience this past weekend. On Sunday, a WWII ship came to my small town of Ashland City, to our park by the Cumberland River. The 83-year-old ship is 328 feet long and 50 feet wide. Over 4,000 showed up on Saturday, and roughly only 6,000 people live in the town. I boarded the ship on the tank deck, and it was like a warehouse. Then I walked through and up the decks. It has 6 decks in all, and it would be easy to get lost.
I explored the ship and saw the post office, the galley, the bunks, the engine room, watertight doors, the bulkhead, and most of the things I write about. The veterans were so much fun to talk to onboard. Inside, I felt like I was touching history and living it. I have a lot of pictures of the visit at the bottom. It was an incredibly massive ship inside.
After looking out from the top deck, I imagined a ship listing. How high it was above the water, and how hard it would be to lower a lifeboat. I am planning to visit some riverboats in Nashville and maybe a steamboat in Granville, Tennessee. I want to learn more so when I tell these stories I get a better idea of what I’m writing.
I also thought about the RMS Olympic and other ocean liners. LST-325 is roughly 328 feet long. Olympic was about 882 feet. You’re talking about putting nearly 2.7 LST-325s end-to-end to equal Olympic’s length and almost two side by side to get her width. It’s mind-boggling how large these ships are.
A Short History of LST-325
The Landing Ship, Tank was not designed for beauty or speed. It was designed to carry war directly onto a beach. The ship’s broad bow opened into two doors, and a heavy ramp allowed tanks, trucks, troops, and supplies to drive straight onto shore. Officially, LST meant Landing Ship, Tank. Sailors sometimes joked that it meant Large Slow Target.
LST-325 was laid down at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on August 10, 1942. She was launched on October 27 and commissioned on February 1, 1943. Her flat bottom and shallow draft allowed her to approach beaches that ordinary cargo ships could not reach. Ballast tanks helped change her trim for an ocean crossing or a landing, while a stern anchor could help pull her away from the beach after unloading.
During World War II, LST-325 served in the European theater. She participated in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the landings at Salerno that September. In June 1944, she took part in the Normandy invasion at Omaha Beach. During the months that followed, she made more than forty trips across the English Channel. She carried soldiers, vehicles, equipment, and supplies into France, then returned with wounded men and prisoners. She earned two battle stars for her wartime service.
After the war, she was decommissioned in 1946. She returned to service during the 1950s as USNS LST-325, supporting the construction of early-warning radar stations in the Arctic. In 1964, she was transferred to the Greek Navy and renamed Syros. She continued serving Greece for more than three decades.
In 2000, the USS LST Ship Memorial acquired the aging vessel. A volunteer crew, many of them veterans, brought her approximately 6,500 miles from Crete to Mobile, Alabama. After an extensive restoration, she opened to the public in 2001. Evansville, Indiana, became her permanent home in 2005.
Today, LST-325 remains operational and still travels under her own power. She is the only operational LST preserved in its World War II configuration afloat in American waters. The ship was originally built to bring soldiers and machines onto distant shores. More than eighty years later, she travels to American river towns and brings that history directly to us. If she comes to your town, take a tour!
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What a great experience, Max! Something like this doesn’t happen every day! The only time I was ever on a vessel of this type (not counting the Carnival Cruise I went on 30 years ago!) was when we visited the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid in NYC. The Intrepid would have dwarfed the LST 325 and in turn, the Intrepid would have been dwarfed by the incredibly massive ships you write about in your Friday series. I know you can imagine very well what it would have been like standing on the deck of one of those beasts; now imagine being on one that was on fire or rammed or torpedoed and sinking! Terrifying doesn’t even cover it. Your photos are impressive; I’ve only see these boats in the great old WWII movies. I’m glad you had this opportunity and very grateful you shared it with us. Thanks for putting things into perspective for us, Max.
I got a brand new respect for these men who served on these and the ships themselves. They really are like floating cities. The post office, kitchen, living quarters, medical, engine room, and everything else. So many twist and turns in this ship that I never knew about. Knowing…you had to get to different stations in a hurry was downright scary thinking about. The stairs are narrow and easy slip down…and the bunks…I still don’t know how they got into those things. They are not like bunk beds lol…you have maybe a little over a foot (if that) from each other. Thank you for reading Nancy…it sure gave me a reference point for now on….I was like “oh…thats what they look like…etc”
Max, this one brought a serious lump to my throat. You did an incredible job setting the foundation for all the other posts. Great work, great post.
THANK YOU
Thanks so much Arthur. It was an honor to tour this ship and it put things in perspective…now I could visually see what I’ve been writing about…and bless these military sailors and all sailors…to see where they call home for most of the time.
Pretty cool, Max.
Thanks Jim…I had such a good time and it was very educational.
Great post, Max. This “large slow target” is much, much more isn’t it? Love all of these pictures here. I had the privilege of taking a tour of the Philly Navy Yard some years ago as part of a marketing effort to provide gauges and other instrumentation for the ships there. It did give me an appreciation for the opportunities and challenges our personnel have while serving upon them. This was a fantastic way to spend part of your weekend. Thanks for sharing it here.
Thank you Bruce…I’m sure you would have a lot to look at there. I would love to see what you saw. I’m going to start exploring more and see what I can find here. Those who served on these ships…have my respect! They are like floating cities.
what are you doing us, tricking us by showing up with a great post on a Tuesday?! Really interesting story and photos. I’m glad you got to see it firsthand. It looks large but you’d never guess so much would be inside of it or that it would have been transporting tanks. Mighty tight quarters though! It’s good someone thought to preserve it and use it as a floating museum.
Thanks Dave…lol…it’s weird posting in the middle of the week! I was impressed it wasn’t towed…but still going on it’s own power and engines…it sure makes me respect the military people who lived on this ship…and the ship…and it IS a floating city…with everything and a post office. I got to see bulkheads, bilges, and all of those things I write about.
That’s quite amazing – we don’t really have anything similar in New Zealand, I don’t think.
Thanks! It was really cool to see this history that landed in France in the 40s…cramped living spaces and all. You all have some navy ships…I read some about Devonport Naval Base when I was reading about the Wahine.