Landing+Ships

The Landing Ship Tank, known as an LST, came about after the Dunkirk evacuation proved there was a need for large ships that could transport vehicles. These ships were created during World War II to support sea operations by carrying vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore.

The first attempt at building these ships was done by converting three tankers from Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela with bay doors. Experts from both Britain and United States' navies gathered requirements. In 1941, the name LST was born. Within a few days, John Niedermair of the US Navy Bureau of Ships completed the first sketch of the design. It called for a large ballast system that could be filled with sea water to give the ship a deep draft for traveling overseas. The water could be emptied so that the ship could sail very close to beaches to unload its cargo. An anchor and mechanical winch system also helped when the ship needed to pull itself off the beach. An elevator was used to lower vehicles from the main deck to the tank deck for disembarking. The design was accepted by the US Navy, and then was sent for approval with the Royal Navy on Nov 5, 1941. Almost immediately, the Royal Navy accepted the design and asked for 200 to be built for Britain under the Lend-Lease program. The first LST was laid down at Newport News, Virginia, and the first production LST set sail four months later in Oct 1942. The construction program for LSTs took a very high priority. Heavy industry plants inland such as steel yards were converted for LST construction.

The Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. built the most LSTs of any shipyard. Their Evansville, Indiana shipyard constructed 171 LSTs. Chicago Bridge and Iron's shipyard in Seneca, Illinois, launched 156 ships. Dravo Corporation's facility in Neville Island, Pennsylvania, built 145 vessels.The American Bridge Company in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, built 119.

The first action that saw LSTs in service was the Solomon Islands Campaign in June 1943, and almost immediately they were used in the Sicily landings in the Mediterranean. Even though they were slow and bulky, they were tough enough to take on a large amount of damage. So tough that only 26 were actually lost in action. Out of those 26, only 13 were sunk by enemy fire.

Almost every landing operation employed LSTs. They were also used to serve in other roles. Some were converted into repair ships. Others were used as floating barracks for 200 officers and men. There were 38 LSTs that were converted into hospital ships. In June 1944, converted LST hospital ships brought 41,035 wounded men from the Normandy beaches in the first couple days of the invasion. After the war, hundreds of LSTs were scrapped or sunk, a few were sold to civilian organizations, and most of the remainder were put in “mothballs” to be preserved for the future.