A US Navy LST 325 Finds A Home In Evansville, Indiana

   My wife and I spent Memorial Day in Evansville placing flowers on her parents and relatives graves and visiting with cousins. Pat also gave me a guided tour of the city she grew up in. She showed me where she use to drag race the boys in her dad's 56 Ford on Slaughter Ave, now a 4 lane highway, and the circuit of drive-in-restaurants she use to cruise on Friday nights to visit and meet friends. Saturday was date night.

Our tour guide explained how trucks and jeeps were tied down

on the upper deck during transport to their destination.

Though I enjoying reminiscing about days gone by, there was one exhibit on the Ohio River that I really wanted to see. A fully operational and seaworthy WW II LST. For landlubbers not familiar with Navy lingo, an LST (landing ship tank) is a ship that was built to transport troops, equipment and supplies to war zones.

The ships were built like floating shoe boxes. They were 328 foot long, 50 feet wide and had a flat bottom so they could beach themselves to unload troops, tanks, trucks, equipment and supplies.

LST 325 with Pittsburgh in the background. (jpdirottphotography)

Now why was an LST in Evansville, Indiana? Eville was one of 5 US shipyards employing hundreds of workers that turned out an LST every four months. Of the 1,051 built, 670 were built stateside. Evansville turned out 171, the most of any of the US shipyards. The remainder were built in Canada and England. My father-in-law, Leonard Preston, was one of those ship builders during WW II and proud of it. My mother-in-law made ammunition for troops.

The ship on display, LST 325, is docked less than a mile from where the original ship yards were located. The irony is that the 325 was built in Pennsylvania and last used by the Greek Navy. To understand the story behind the 325 go to www.lstmemorial.org.

Waiting to offload equipment and troops.

We arrived early for the noon tour and had a great view of downtown Evansville from the pier. Our first stop was the main deck where trucks and equipment were tied down like peas in a pod. Tanks were loaded through clam shell doors at the bow of the ship and parked in the lower deck. Troops would sleep in bunks, below deck or in their vehicles. LSTs were notorious for rocking side to side and up and down at sea. Flat bottoms do not make for a smooth ride.

Our group clambered down steep stairs and through narrow passageways trying not to smack our heads on the unforgiving metal door frames. The bowels of the LST was wide open and ready to receive tanks and other heavy equipment. A special ventilation system was designed to suck exhaust gases out of the lower deck when all the tanks were running and ready to offload.

Troops and equipment hit the beaches during the battle of the Phillipeans.

A small galley and mess area was on the upper deck along with the bridge (the bridge of a ship is the room or platform from which the ship can be commanded). The LST had to defend itself and was equipped with 1  twin 40 mm gun, six 20 mm guns, 3  Lewis guns, two 4 in (100 mm) smoke mortars.

LST 325 is fully operational and will often stop at river ports so that the public can explore this important WW II vessel. For more information about LSTs and their specs go to:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Ship,_Tank.