USS LST-325
{{Short description|World War II era tank landing ship converted to a museum ship}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=USS LST-325-9.jpg |Ship caption=USS LST-325 as a museum ship on 28 August 2023 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1961}} |Ship name=LST-325 |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Philadelphia Navy Yard |Ship laid down=10 August 1942 |Ship launched=27 October 1942 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=1 February 1943 |Ship decommissioned=2 July 1946 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck=1 September 1961 |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours=2 battle stars (WWII) |Ship fate=Transferred to Greece 1964 |Ship status= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Greece |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Greece|naval}} |Ship name=RHS Syros (L-144) |Ship namesake= |Ship acquired=1 September 1964 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned=1999 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified=T-LST (1951) |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate=Sold, 2000 |Ship status= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1961}} |Ship name=M/V LST-325 |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship renamed=USS LST-325 (2004) |Ship reclassified= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=*{{MMSI Number|338142833}}
|Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate= |Ship status=Operational museum ship at Evansville, Indiana |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|LST-1|tank landing ship}} |Ship displacement=*{{convert|1625|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} light
|Ship length={{convert|327|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|50|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft=*Light:
|Ship depth= |Ship propulsion=2 General Motors 12-567 {{convert|900|hp|0|abbr=on}} diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders |Ship speed={{convert|12|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range={{convert|24000|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|9|kn|abbr=on}} |Ship boats=2 × LCVPs |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=7 officers, 104 enlisted |Ship armament=*2 × twin 40 mm gun mounts
|Ship armor= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox NRHP |embed=yes |name=USS LST 325 |nrhp_type= |image=PortOfEvansville.jpg |image_size=300 |caption=At 2006 Tall Stacks Festival in Cincinnati, OH |locmapin=Indiana |map_width=150 |map_caption= |coordinates = {{coord|37.972879 |
| 87.580418|display=inline,title}}
|location=610 NW Riverside Dr. |built= |architect= |architecture= |added =24 June 2009 |designated_nrhp_type= |visitation_num= |visitation_year= |refnum=09000434 |mpsub= |governing_body= }} |
USS LST-325 is a decommissioned tank landing ship of the United States Navy, now docked in Evansville, Indiana, US. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation (LSTs in service after July 1955 were named after U.S. counties and parishes).
The ship was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2009{{cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: USS LST-325 |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/weekly_features/USS_LST325.pdf |date=22 December 2008 |first1=Steve |last1=Boeder |first2=Paul |last2=Diebold |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=12 August 2009}} (92 pages, with diagrams and approximately 40 photos) and the listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of 2 July 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/2009nrlist.htm |title=National Register of Historic Places Program: Lists of Weekly Actions 2009 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=5 September 2012}}
Service history
=US Navy, 1942-1961=
LST-325 was launched on 27 October 1942 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and commissioned on 1 February 1943 under Lt. Ira Ehrensall, USNR.{{cite web |url=http://www.lstmemorial.org/virtualExhibit/vex1/BAFC30D5-EA96-4335-A228-188599573700.htm |title=USS LST-325 Deck Logs - February, 1943 |publisher=USS LST Ship Memorial |date=February 1943 |access-date=26 February 2018}} The ship operated in the North Africa area and participated in the invasions at Gela, Sicily and Salerno, Italy. On 6 June 1944, LST-325 was part of the largest armada in history by participating in the Normandy Landings at Omaha Beach. She carried 59 vehicles, 30 officers and a total of 396 enlisted men on that first trip. On her first trip back to England from France, LST-325 transported 38 casualties back to a friendly port.{{cite web |url=http://www.lstmemorial.org/virtualExhibit/vex1/217766B8-952C-4623-91B0-402860073197.htm |title=USS LST-325 Deck Logs - June, 1944 |publisher=USS LST Ship Memorial |date=June 1944 |access-date=26 February 2018}} Over the next nine months, Navy records show LST-325 made more than 40 trips across the English Channel, carrying thousands of men and pieces of equipment needed by troops to successfully complete the liberation of Europe. The ship continued to run supply trips between England and France before returning to the United States in May 1945.{{cite web |url=http://www.lstmemorial.org/virtualExhibit/vex1/61FA0F12-8548-4EF9-9E15-205159476690.htm |title=USS LST-325 Deck Logs - May, 1945 |publisher=USS LST Ship Memorial |date=May 1945 |access-date=26 February 2018}} LST-325 was decommissioned on 2 July 1946, at Green Cove Springs, Florida, and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
The ship was placed in service with the Military Sea Transportation Service in 1951 as USNS T-LST-325, and took part in "Operation SUNAC" (Support of North Atlantic Construction), venturing into the Labrador Sea, Davis Strait, and Baffin Bay to assist in the building of radar outposts along the eastern shore of Canada and western Greenland.
Struck from the Naval Vessel Register, on 1 September 1961, T-LST-325 was transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet.
=Hellenic Navy, 1964-1999=
T-LST-325 was sent to Greece on 1 September 1964, as part of the grant-in-aid program. She served in the Hellenic Navy as RHS Syros (L-144) from 1964 to 1999.
USS LST Ship Memorial Museum
The USS LST Memorial, Inc., a group of retired military men, acquired Syros in 2000. They travelled to Greece, made the necessary repairs to the ship and sailed her back to the United States, arriving in Mobile Harbor on 10 January 2001. In 2003, LST-325 made a sentimental journey up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The 10-day stop in Evansville, Indiana, allowed more than 35,000 people to take a tour. In May and June 2005, she sailed up the east coast under her own power for a 60-day tour of several ports, visiting Alexandria, Virginia, and Buzzard's Bay, Boston, Gloucester, Massachusetts. LST-325 is one of only two navigable LSTs in operation in the U.S. The only other is {{USS|LST-510}} in daily use as a ferry between Orient, New York and New London, Connecticut. Formerly the list included the dredge MV Columbia which was scrapped in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Columbia - Trailing suction hopper dredgers - Equipment {{!}} Dredging Database |url=https://www.dredgepoint.org/dredging-database/equipment/columbia |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=www.dredgepoint.org}} On 1 October 2005, Evansville, Indiana, became her home port (although she still visits other ports each year).
=Evansville=
During World War II, the Evansville, Indiana, riverfront was transformed into a {{convert|45|acre|ha|sing=on}} shipyard to produce LSTs. At its peak, the Evansville Shipyard employed a workforce of over 19,000 and completed two of these massive ships per week, becoming the largest inland producer of LSTs in the US. Although the Evansville Shipyard was originally contracted to build 24 ships, the city would eventually produce 167 LSTs and 35 other vessels. LST-325 is now home ported in Evansville as a memorial museum to LSTs and the city's war effort.
=Relocation=
In 2018, plans were announced to relocate LST-325 from her Marina Pointe location to Riverfront Park across from Bally’s Evansville, a spot previously occupied by the casino's riverboat, which retired in 2017 when the casino was allowed to move onshore. On 13 June 2020, LST-325 moved to her new port on Riverside Drive in Evansville.{{cite news |url=https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2020/06/13/lst-325-welcomed-new-downtown-evansville-home/5346324002/ |title=LST 325 welcomed to new Downtown Evansville home |work=Evansville Courier & Press |first=Isaiah |last=Seibert |date=13 June 2020 |access-date=15 June 2020}}
Image:LST 182.jpg|LST-325 in Evansville
Image:LST 002.jpg|The ship's bridge
Image:Multiple Gun Motor Carriage.jpg|A restored M16 MGMC
Image:LST 017.jpg|A typical troop compartment
Image:LST 036.jpg|The ship's crew, c.1945
Image:LST 043.jpg|The engine room
Image:LST 049.jpg|The tank deck, looking forward
Image:LST 054.jpg|A graphic painted on the ship by the Greek crew
Image:LST 069.jpg|The ship's crew from trans-Atlantic crossing
Image:LST 100.jpg|A 40 mm AA gun tub
Image:LST 131.jpg|The LST's deck, from the wheelhouse deck
Image:Annunciator.jpg|Ship's wheel and engine order telegraph
Image:LST 325 Ship's awards.jpg|LST-325{{'}}s ribbons: American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two service stars, World War II Victory Medal
See also
References
=Notes=
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
{{Refbegin}}
- {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l15/lst-325.htm}}
- {{Naval Vessel Register|{{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=LST325}}}}
- {{navsource|10/16/160325|USS LST-325}}
{{Refend}}
External links
- [http://www.lstmemorial.org The USS LST Ship Memorial]
- {{hnsa|uss-lst-325}}
- [http://www.cargolaw.com/presentations_lst325.html Details of LST-325's journey home]
- {{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-l/lst325.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010218222751/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-l/lst325.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 February 2001 |publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command |title=Online Library of Selected Images: USS LST-325 (1943-1964)}}
{{LST-1 class tank landing ship}}
{{Evansville, Indiana}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Indiana}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lst-0325}}
Category:Museum ships in Indiana
Category:World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States
Category:Ships built in Philadelphia
Category:LST-1-class tank landing ships of the United States Navy
Category:Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
Category:Military and war museums in Indiana
Category:Museums in Evansville, Indiana
Category:Monuments and memorials in Indiana
Category:Tourist attractions in Evansville, Indiana
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Evansville, Indiana
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