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
United States
Name: USS LST-291
Builder: American Bridge Company, Ambridge, Pennsylvania
Laid down: 25 September 1943
Launched: 14 November 1943
Stricken: 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:
  • 1,780 long tons (1,809 t) light
  • 3,880 long tons (3,942 t) full
Length: 328 ft (100 m)
Beam: 50 ft (15 m)
Draft:
  • Unloaded:
  • Bow: 2 ft 4 in (0.71 m)
  • Stern: 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
  • Loaded :
  • Bow: 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m)
  • Stern: 14 ft 1 in (4.29 m)
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:

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
  1. "Tank Landing Ship LST-291". navsource.org. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  2. "ProjectEleuthera.org: LST 291 – June 1954 "All Hands"". projecteleuthera.org. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
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