LST 325 making history beyond Mobile

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Work on a floating museum could be completed in November allowing the move of a restored WWII troop landing ship that is to be moved to a more prominent location along the Ohio River in downtown Evansville. Crews are now building a visitor center and barges, so LST 325 can move to the former site of the Tropicana Evansville casino boat. Evansville Port Authority chairman Pat Wathen tells the Evansville Courier & Press that the $3.6M project is on track and within budget. The ship took part in the 1944 D-Day landings in France and has been based in Evansville since 2005. (Source: The AP 09/29/19) Gulf Coast Note: LST-325 gained national publicity when a crew of gray-haired veterans sailed it across the Atlantic Ocean to Mobile, Ala., arriving Jan. 10, 2001, after a crew of 28 veterans brought it on a 6,400-mile voyage from Greece - despite advice against it by the Coast Guard. The LST-325 underwent restoration in Mobile and was the centerpiece at a national LST convention there in September 2001. But when Mobile never offered a free, highly visible location to serve as the ship's home, Evansville stepped in with an invitation, which the board of the nonprofit group that owns the ship accepted. Nearly 170 LSTs were built in Evansville during World War II. https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/09/29/a-hero-of-d-day-lst-325-finally-moving-new-site/