USS LST-291
USS LST-291 was a LST-1-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II by the American Bridge Company in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
History | |
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Name: | USS LST-291 |
Builder: | American Bridge Company, Ambridge, Pennsylvania |
Laid down: | 25 September 1943 |
Launched: | 14 November 1943 |
Struck: | 19 May 1954 |
Honours and awards: | 1 battle star (World War II) |
Fate: | Sunk as a target, July 1954 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | LST-1-class tank landing ship |
Displacement: |
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Length: | 328 ft (100 m) |
Beam: | 50 ft (15 m) |
Draft: |
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Propulsion: | 2 General Motors 12-567 diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders |
Speed: | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Boats & landing craft carried: | Two to six LCVPs |
Troops: | approx. 140 officers and enlisted |
Complement: | 8–10 officers, 100–115 enlisted |
Armament: |
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LST-291 was laid down on 25 September 1943 and launched 14 November 1943. During World War II, the LST-291 was assigned to the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater, and participated in the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944.[1]
In 1954, she ran aground on a coral reef off James Point, Eleuthera in the Bahamas. After 11 days of salvage operations which involved blasting a 1,000 foot channel through the reef, she was freed from the reef and towed back to the drydock at Jacksonville, Florida.[2] The damage she sustained was too extensive, however, and LST-291 was decommissioned, struck from the Naval Register on 19 May 1954, and sunk as a target in July 1954.
LST-291 earned one battle star for World War II service.
References
- "Tank Landing Ship LST-291". navsource.org. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
- "ProjectEleuthera.org: LST 291 – June 1954 "All Hands"". projecteleuthera.org. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Photo gallery of USS LST-291 at NavSource Naval History
External links
- "USS LST-291". Project Eleuthera. Retrieved 7 April 2010.