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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

HM LST-319

LST-319 was transferred to the United Kingdom for the duration of World War II

LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship

Laid down, 10 August 1942, at Philadelphia Navy Yard

Launched, 5 November 1942

LST-319 never saw active service with the United States Navy

Transferred to the United Kingdom, under terms of the Lend-lease Act

Royal Navy History
Commissioned into the Royal Navy as HM LST-319, 15 December 1942
HM LST-319 sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia for Liverpool, 31 March 1943, in convoy SC 125 in company with USS LST-336, and HM LST-406
HM-319 sailed from Scotland in convoy KMS 18A for the Mediterranean
HM LST-319 participated in the following campaigns:
Sicilian occupation
Salerno landings
West Coast of Italy operations-1944 - Anzio-Nettuno advanced landings
Invasion of Normandy
Operated in shuttle service between Tilbury, Ostend and Antwerp
Collided with a pier at Ostend in early October 1944
Assisted in relief of Norway
Believed to have loaded HM LCT-2228 at Liverpool for return to US Navy custody
Paid off and returned to US Navy custody, 17 December 1945, at New York City, N.Y.

Struck from the Naval Register, 21 January 1946

Sold, 9 March 1948, to Ships and Power Equipment Corp., Barber, N.J.

Resold in 1948 to Shell Oil Co.

Rebuilt as a shallow draft tanker suitable for Shell’s movement of crude oil from their Lake Maracaibo oil fields to the Shell refineries in Aruba and Curacao

Named MT Lucia, reflagged Venezuela

Final Disposition, scrapped in 1957 at Ghent Belgium

Specifications: (as reported by Office of Naval Intelligence-1945)
Displacement 1,625 t.(lt), 2,366 (beaching), 4,080 t.(fl) (sea-going draft w/1675 ton load)
Length 328' o.a.
Beam 50'

Draft

(light) - 2' 4" fwd, 7' 6" aft

(sea-going) 8' 3" fwd, 14' 1" aft

(landing) 3' 11" fwd, 9' 10" aft (landing w/500 ton load)

(limiting) 11' 2"

(max. nav.) 14' 1"

Speed 11.6 kts. (trial)

Endurance 24,000 miles @ 9kts. while displacing 3960 tons

Complement

13 officers

106 enlisted

Troop Accommodations

16 officers

147 enlisted

Boats 4 LCVP

Cargo Capacity (varied with mission - payloads between 1600 and 1900 tons)

Typical loads

One Landing Craft Tank (LCT), tanks, wheeled and tracked vehicles, artillery, construction equipment and military supplies. A ramp or elevator forward allowed vehicles access to tank deck from main deck

Additional capacity included sectional pontoons carried on each side of vessel amidships, to either build Rhino Barges or use as causeways. Married to the bow ramp, the causeways would enabled payloads to be delivered ashore from deeper water or where a beachhead would not allow the vessel to be grounded forward after ballasting

Armament

one - 12 Pounder anti-aircraft multi-barrel mount

six - 20MM mounts

four - Fast Aerial Mine (FAM) mounts

Fuel Capacity 4,320 Bbls

Propulsion

two General Motors 12-567A, 900hp Diesel engines

Falk single Main reduction gears

one Diesel-drive 100Kw, 240V. D.C. Ship's Service Generators

two propellers, 1,700shp

twin rudders