Virginia’s connection to two of the remaining WW II LST ships

1,051 Landing Ship Tank were built at various shipyards in the U.S during
World War II. Some were built in Virginia. One of the 2 World War II LST preserved as
museum ships was built at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in
Newport News, VA (Now known as Northrop Grumman Newport News). One of the two
LST still in commercial service had its first civilian use as a Commonwealth of Virginia
owned ferry on the Chesapeake Bay.

Many World War II built LST were not retained by the Navy after the end of World War
II. Sales to private sector buyers were common in the late 1940’s. These ships were
converted to a variety of uses.

Some were broken up for scrap and their engines and fittings used on other types of new
and renovated ships. The diesel engines, steering systems and auxiliary motors of
scrapped, cancelled during construction or converted to barges former LST were a major
source of components for re-powering steam tugboats. The 1902 built 101 foot coast and
harbor tugboat Jupiter ,now an operational museum ship in Philadelphia , was converted
from steam to diesel in a Baltimore , Maryland shipyard in 1949 using mechanical
components of an LST it towed to the shipyard to be the source of parts for the re-
powering of the tugboat . This conversion allowed the tug to stay in commercial service
until 1999. The tug that was one of many that participated in the launching of the
battleship USS New Jersey at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard is docked directly across
the Delaware River from Camden, New Jersey where the battleship is moored as a
museum. The USS New Jersey was based out of the Norfolk, VA Naval Station several
times over its long career.

The moderate height, lower than a Liberty Ship or Victory Ship type freighter draft,
longer length than most coastal and river freight ship designs then in use, and hull
framing features , and low sale prices made the LST suitable for conversions to civilian
use.

Former LST hulls were converted to barges to conduct dredging, oil well drilling,
carrying of bulk cargo, fitted with liquid storage tanks, and containers. Barges made from
the hulls of WW II LST often required special ballasting measures to handle under tow
like purpose built barges would.

Former LST that were not scrapped or converted to barges were modified to become
ferries, dredge boats, bulk cargo freighters and oil rig support ships. The Coast Guard
ended the uses of former LST as oceangoing freighters in early 1955 after 2 sank with
loss of life.

Two LST with connections to Virginia that became ferries remain in existence today

LST-393 was laid down on 27 July 1942 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock
Co.; launched on 11 November 1942; sponsored by Miss Lucy Jean Sorenson; and
commissioned on 11 December 1942, Lt. John H. Halifax, USNR, in command. During
World War II, LST-393 was assigned to the European theater including the Normandy
invasion .Following the war, LST-393 returned to the United States and was
decommissioned on 1 March 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 14 March 1947. On
March 28, 1948, the ship was sold to a private sector owner for conversion to merchant
service. It was renamed the Highway 16. It served, with bow doors and landing ramp
welded shut, as a ferry carrying automobiles between Muskegon, MI and Milwaukee,
Wisconsin until sometime in the year 1973. It was then laid up. The ship eventually
became a museum ship in 2001 in Muskegon, MI.

The former USS Buncombe County (LST-510) has since 1983 served as a ferry between
Orient Point, New York and New London, Connecticut. LST 510 was laid down on 27
September 1943 at Jeffersonville, Ind., by the Jeffersonville Boat and Machine Co.;
launched on 30 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. C. P. Watson; and placed in reduced
commission on 18 January 1944. Departing her builders' yard three days later, on 21
January, LST 510 proceeded down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where she was
placed in full commission on 31 January 1944, Lt. George P. Andrews in command. The
ship was assigned to the European theater and was at the Normandy Invasion. It was
decommissioned on July 1, 1946. Buncombe County (LST-510) was deemed "unfit for
further Naval service" on 27 October 1958, and her name was struck from the Navy list
on 1 November 1958. In 1960 or 1961, the ship was sold to the Chesapeake Bay Ferry
District, of Norfolk, Va., the Commonwealth of Virginia government agency which
operated the ferry service across the Chesapeake Bay from the Little Creek area of
Virginia Beach to Kiptopeke, Virginia on the Eastern Shore side of the Chesapeake Bay
and renamed MV Virginia Beach. Ship was sold by the Commonwealth of Virginia in
1964 or 1965, upon the ending of the Chesapeake Bay ferry service with the April 15,
1964 opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, to the Delaware River and Bay
Authority Ship was renamed the Cape Henlopen of the Cape May., New Jersey – Lewes,
Delaware ferry. The ship was sold to Cross Sound Ferry Services Inc. in 1983 and
underwent a total refurbishment before entering service between Orient Point, New York
and New London Connecticut where it remains in service at present. Ship had new
engines installed and structural changes to the bow done in the 21st century.

The other former LST still in commercial use is the dredge Columbus as a self propelled,
self loading hopper dredge utilizing portions of the hull and superstructure of LST 987. It
may have already or could come to Virginia for a dredging project.