La Crosse, Wisconsin will Host the USS LST 325 Ship on
August 31st – September 4th
Captain Robert Kubota invites you to visit and tour this historic ship while in La Crosse. The LST 325 is one of the last of her kind and the only working LST in the United States.
By giving tours, the crew will give detailed descriptions to educate everyone, young and old, of the role these LST ships played in our wars and honor the men who rode and served on these ships. A total of 1,051 of these ships were built in seventeen shipyards in the US with the most (167) being built in Evansville, IN. Seneca, IL built 157 coming in second place. In Pittsburgh, the Dravo Corp. built 146 and American Bridge, for a total of 269 for these two shipyards. Once they got the assembly line going, the yards put a ship in the water every five days to sail from the Ohio, Illinois, and Mississippi Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. These ships were 328 feet long and 50 feet wide, but were of shallow draft. Empty an LST draws only 4 feet forward and 9 feet aft.
Now this veteran creature will sail the LST 325 from its homeport of Evansville, along the river to La Crosse. It will be available for tours August 31st-September 4th from 9AM to 5PM. Many schools in a large area have expressed interest in bringing students to La Crosse for a great learning experience. All of her original equipment is still on board and working, including her 20mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. Today, the ship looks just as it did when it came out of the shipyard in 1942. The restoration is nearly complete.
When you visit this ship, you will stand on the deck of a ship that was in the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. She then made 42 more round trips from England to France, supplying the allies with fuel, ammunition, and other supplies. The LST took wounded soldiers back to England, serving as a hospital ship on return trips. On one of her trips she rescued 600 soldiers out of the North Sea, as the Austrian troop ship, the Javelin, was torpedoed and sunk. Risking his own ship, the Captain stopped and picked them all up out of the cold water. This ship is truly a piece of world history.
Note: Next, we will follow the return of LST 325 to the US from Greece by a veteran crew. If you have personal recollections, contact this paper of write LST 325, 610NW Riverside Dr, Evansville, IN 47713.
