LST question

Discussion in 'The War at Sea' started by chipm, Nov 11, 2020.

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  1. chipm

    chipm Well-Known Member

    How did they get from where they were made to where they were used.....were they towed.?
    I am no sailor. Would towing make any difference in heavy seas. Did you still require anybody aboard during towing.?

    thank you
     
  2. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    They were full ocean going ships with about 10,000 mile range. Sailors didn't like them because they had a lot of roll in rough seas due to their flat bottoms. No towing needed.
     
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  3. chipm

    chipm Well-Known Member

    Wow.......OK.
    I never would have thought that.
    I would not want to be on a destroyer in open ocean......cannot fathom being on an LST. :omg:
     
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  4. Ewen Scott

    Ewen Scott Well-Known Member

    The design incorporated ballast tanks which could be filled with seawater for the ocean passage making them more stable. Many of those supplied to Britain that came direct to the U.K. brought cargo loads on their tank decks (ISTR reading of loads of timber). Upper deck cargo was regularly an LCT(5) or (6).

    LCI(L) also made oceanic voyages from builders yards to to operational theatres, often having additional fuel tanks strapped to their decks to increase their range.

    British built LCT(1),(2),(3) and (4) and support craft based on them (LCFs and LCG), also made long voyages from Britain to the Mediterranean and, from late 1944, to the Far East. Care required to be taken with the weather conditions they were likely to encounter en route and some were lost in storms. These craft were too large to strap to the upper decks of LSTs.
     
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  5. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    How to Launch an LCT
     
  6. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    My Dad's Battery sailed on LST 336 from Tilbury Docks (14 June 1944) and arrived 17 June 1944 on Juno Beach. I was really interested in how they got Normandy.

    From the loading tables. 231 Men and 50 Vehicles, plus the American Crew.

    upload_2020-11-11_20-27-49.jpeg

    This is where all LST's landed at Courseulles-sur-Mer.

    upload_2020-11-11_19-25-15.jpeg

    Some photos I found showing how the decks were packed with equipment.

    upload_2020-11-11_19-46-43.jpeg

    German POW's being loaded.

    upload_2020-11-11_19-47-26.jpeg

    More photos.

    upload_2020-11-11_20-22-35.jpeg

    upload_2020-11-11_20-22-57.jpeg

    It was crewed by Americans. An interesting first hand diary written by B.S.M. Bill Dowdall.

    upload_2020-11-11_19-49-40.jpeg

    upload_2020-11-11_19-50-5.jpeg

    upload_2020-11-11_19-50-27.jpeg

    The diary entry finished as they prepared to disembark.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2020
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  7. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    His is a great video I found about LST 325, a sister ship of LST 336. It gives a lot of information. Another name was the "Long Slow Target".

     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2023
  8. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    Nowhere as large as an LST, is a Landing Craft Tank or rather rarer, a Landing Craft Flak. The sailing characteristics are just as awful, and these too were trans ocean going. I can highly recommend Peter Bull's To Sea in a Sieve (1956 first published) to give you a real insight into life in these small vessels. The word hilarious has also cropped up in relation to this book.
     
  9. chipm

    chipm Well-Known Member

    That must have been a bit deflating....or maybe they did not give an F' at all....for German/Japanese to see something like that beach itself.
    That was HUGE Tech for the day. Who else had that capability.
    Operation Sea Lion was not going to be easy with a bunch of barges.
     
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  10. Jane Suff

    Jane Suff Member

    This is wonderful! My father also sailed from Tilbury about 2 weeks after yours- he was a local lad from Gravesend. The regimental war diary (86th anti tank regt. R.A.) has them marshalled at Tilbury on June 19th but the great storm in the channel hindered them from sailing until 26th or 27th( I can’t remember off hand). They were also berthed at Southend overnight and landed on Juno beach at Courseulles. Do you have the loading tables for this period? The diary is wonderful- it gives me a clear picture of what my 19 year old father would have experienced. I have a letter he wrote to his mother about the time spent in the marshalling area but nothing about the journey. Thanks so much for posting!! Jane.
     
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  11. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Learned from this one that opening the bow doors was a pretty complicated procedure.

    Also looks like some towed M1918 155s (Schneider) at 23:14

     
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  12. Jane Suff

    Jane Suff Member

    Hello there!
    My father sailed from Tilbury on June 26th. The regt. diary lists LST’s 78,79 80. He wrote to his mother that he was on a U.S. craft. However I suspect this could mean 378 etc because I have since discovered that the 78 served in the Asiatic-Pacific campaigns. Are the Loading Tables you showed generally accessible? With thanks for any help you can offer, Jane.
     
  13. Hi Jane,

    The LST numbers in the War Diary you mention are not the ship pennant or hull numbers. They are likely to be Craft Serials or Landing Table Index Numbers (i.e. code numbers representing ship or craft loads) instead. The date of 26 Jun means they were part of the Shuttle Service (for definition see HMLCT 1134 (Mk4)), for which very few, if any, loading table seem to have survived.

    Could you post the relevant pages from the War Diary ? They might have additional hints as to their identity.

    Michel
     

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