Floating museum returns to Chattanooga: LST 325 is the last of its kind

UPDATE August 19, 2019:  For the first time in five years, LST 325 will be in Chattanooga, open for tours from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from Thursday August 22 through Tuesday August 27.  (Tours end on the final day only at 1:00 p.m.) Here’s what you need to know:

It will pass through Nickajack on Wed. August 21st at 2:00 a.m. EDT.  It will arrive at Ross’s Landing Wed. at 8:34 a.m.  There will be an opening ceremony Wed. at 3:00 p.m.   It will then open to the public Thursday at 10 a.m.

Here is the release from the crew:

We are a FULLY OPERATIONAL ship and all tours in Evansville are guided. Standard tours include the Main Deck, Troop Berthing, Tank Deck, Mess Deck, Galley, Stern of ship (Guns and Anchor), Wheel House, Officer’s Country, and the Captain’s Cabin. This tour includes up to 6 ladders (sets of stairs).

If your party would like to avoid ladders we offer a shorter Main Deck Tour (subject to guide availability) that consists of the History, Guns, the Stern of the ship (Guns and Anchor), and Officer’s Country and Galley if possible (must be able to step over hatches). 

You are allowed to ask questions and take pictures at any point during the tour. We recommend wearing comfortable walking shoes. Heels of any type are not advised. We recommend carrying water during the tour (available in the Gift Shop) due to the increased temperatures onboard ship.

There is NO air conditioning on board the ship, but someone who toured early told me there was fresh air movement, and he was comfortable.  Obviously, wear light clothing, because it is August!

Adults (age 18+) : $10.00
Youth (age 6-17) : $5.00
Children under 5 : Free
WWII and Korean War Vets no charge: PLUS! These veterans will be transported to and from the parking lot via golf cart, and will go to the FRONT of the line, no waiting.

 

2014 UPDATE: The attendance was 3,959 for total of  22,085 a new record! The all-time record for a six-day LST 325 stay was 17,000 before their visit to Chattanooga..

Upon departure, LST 325 went down the Tennessee River through the Nickajack Locks heading back to Decatur, Alabama before proceeding to its home port in Evansville, Indiana.  The ship fired the 40 mm Bofers guns as a send off, also blasting ‘Anchors Aweigh’ as she headed home.  Here’s video, courtesy of Mark Simpson:

We got lucky, Chattanooga. Our town hosted a rare piece of American history at the riverfront for six days.  The World War II-era USS LST 325 was at Ross’s Landing.

I talked to retired Navy Captain Mickey McCamish, who coordinated the local visit, and the 27-year vet couldn’t be any prouder.  The LST (Landing Ship Tank) visits only two cities a year, and this year, Chattanooga was one of them.  “This ship helped us win the freedom we have today,” McCamish said, and that cannot be disputed.  Get this: there were 1,051 of these vessels constructed during World War II (mostly by women!) and this is the last ship standing.

How important was this proud 73-year-old vessel, now a floating museum?  It delivered tanks, supplies, vehicles and soldiers to enemy shorelines at a time when Americans were facing long odds, trying to push back German and Japanese soldiers.  On D-Day, just over 70 years ago, the LST 325 was at Omaha Beach, Normandy.  That was one day, June 6, 1944, a big day to be sure.  But it participated in many other invasions and occupations as well.  She was there for Operation HUSKY, the invasion of Sicily in 1943.  She sailed as support for the invasion of Salerno, Italy later that year.  From then until April 1945, it made 44 more trips between England and France, many to the Normandy beachheads. On return trips to England, the ship carried wounded soldiers.

Get this: the ship can hold up to 136,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and when topped off can sail around the world nearly 1 1/2 times without refueling.  It is 328 feet long and 50 feet wide, with enough space to hold 20 Sherman tanks.

Who came up with the idea of LSTs? British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who recognized that Allied forces would have to avoid heavily mined ports and deliver troops right to Nazi-occupied beaches.  As you might expect, crew members were occasionally injured during attacks by enemy warplanes.

The LST 325 was decommissioned and reactivated twice in the 1950s and, in 1961 became part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet.  She again was recommissioned in 1963 and transferred to Greece in May 1964. The ship served in the Greek Navy until the end of 1999, when she was retired permanently from service.

In the summer of 2000, the decaying LST 325 was salvaged from a Crete scrapyard by Captain Bob Jornlin and fifty retired Navy veterans.  (Jornlin had served on a similar LST during his active duty in the Navy in the 1960s.) They acquired the ship with the help of the US Congress and Greek authorities.  After making much-needed repairs, they made a 30-day, 6,500 mile journey to Mobile, Alabama that received worldwide attention.  From 2001-2005, it was in Mobile, but Jornlin, who at age 75 still steers the ship today, said getting it out of the salt water would be a good for the vessel, so the move to Indiana was made.

During the Chattanooga visit, McCamish saw families, school groups, veterans, and history lovers taking the tour.  “It’s a real honor to have this historic vessel and its crew in Chattanooga,” McCamish said.    For more information, go to http://www.lstmemorial.org/