A BOAT DESIGNED TO BE GROUNDED GETS GROUNDED

September 13, 2011  Dateline: Grafton, IL USA

Here is a picture of the marina that MY WAY and I stayed at last night.

Yesterday, while on my way to Beardstown, I saw LST 325 pulled up on the shore in Peoria.  I asked Rich to do some research and find out about her.  LSTs (Landing Ship Transport) were used in WW II to land trucks, tanks and other equipment on beaches.  They were equipped with anchors on the stern so between pulling on anchors dropped on the way to the beach and their propellers they could back On June 5^th 1944 LST 325 sailed from Falmouth, England carrying elements of the 5th Special Engineer Brigade. LST-325 was part of Force "B", the back-up force for the troops going ashore at Omaha Beach on June 6th. On June 7^th they anchored off Omaha Beach and unloaded the men and vehicles onto smaller landing craft. Between June 1944 and April 1945 LST-325 made 44 trips between England and France, unloading at Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno and the city of Rouen on the Seine River. Twice they carried loads of ammunition from Omaha Beach to St. Michel on the western shore of the Cotentin peninsula for the Army besieging the port city of Brest.  LST 325 like other LSTs did not have a name only a number.  In 2000 she was acquired by The USS Ship Memorial, Inc., and sailed back across the Atlantic for the final time. She arrived in Mobile, Alabama on January 10th 2001 to begin a restoration by retired Navy volunteers.  She is one of two that have survived.

Today she came down the Illinois River on her way to visit another port. She must have tried to give me some room as she passed by my berth at the barge.  Well she got stuck in the muddy river bed.  Her captain put her in reverse and her propellers ground away at the river bottom until she could back away and then go forward again.  I bet she didn’t bend her props.

Later down the river I saw her again pulling into her next port.  As she pulled in, she opened her bow and was getting ready to put her landing ramp out.  It was cool.

Later in the day, I saw this river boat on the left in the process of being restored.  It sure looks like there is a lot of work to be done.

Some of the tows I saw along the way have their bridges on hydraulic pistons so that they can get under bridges easier.  This picture shows one of the tows with its bridge in the up position.

When Rich went to check in at our stop for the day (Grafton Harbor), he was told that if he paid for four days slippage I could stay for seven.  Looks like I will be here for the week before I start my trip down the mighty Mississippi River.