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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

HM LSE(LC)-53
ex
HM LST-402 (1942 - 1944)
LST-402 (1942)

LST-402 was transferred to the United Kingdom for the duration of World War II

LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship:

Laid down, 21 August 1942, at Bethlehem Steel Co., Fairfield Yard., Baltimore, MD.

Launched, 9 October 1942

Transferred to the United Kingdom and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HM LST-402, 9 December 1942

HM LST-402 sailed from New York as part of the 1st flotilla Mediterranean, via Bermuda 27th Jan 1943

HM LST-402 participated in Invasion of Sicily, Salerno landings, Anzio and Normandy

Converted to LSE(LC)-53 at the Wallsend-On-Tyne slipway, for the 65th Maintenance Mobile Unit

Assigned to the Far East in the summer of 1945

Decommissioned by the Royal Navy and returned to US Navy custody, 24 September 1946

Struck from the Naval Register, 10 June 1947

Final Disposition, subsequently sold for scrap, and dismantled at Gibraltar

Specifications:

Displacement

1,625 t.(lt)

4,080 t.(fl) (sea-going draft w/1675 ton load)

2,366 t. (beaching displacement)

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"

maximum navigation 14' 1"

Speed 11.6 kts. (trial)

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

Complement

13 officers

104 enlisted

Troop Accommodations

16 officers

147 enlisted

Boats 2 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 - US Varied with availability when each vessel was outfitted. Retro-fitting was accomplished throughout WWII. The ultimate armament design for United States vessels was

two - Twin 40MM gun mounts w/Mk. 51 directors

four - Single 40MM gun mounts

twelve single 20MM gun mounts

Armament - UK Lend Lease built vessels were to be outfitted with armament after convoying across Atlantic and included

one - 12 Pounder anti-aircraft multi-barrel mount

six - 20MM single gun mounts

four - Fast Aerial Mine (FAM) mounts

Fuel Capacity

Diesel 4,300 Bbls

Propulsion

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

single Falk Main Reduction Gears

three Diesel-drive 100Kw 230V D.C. Ship's Service Generators

two propellers, 1,700shp

twin rudders

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
HM LST-402
1016016401	279k	An M4 Sherman medium tank of 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) is being driven into the tank deck of HM LST-402 as HM LST-164 and HM LST-402 are loading at Catania, Sicily in preparation for the Salerno landings during the invasion of Italy in September 1943. Photo by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), National Army Museum collection. NAM. 1975-03-63-14-149. National Army Museum collection. NAM. 1975-03-63-14-149.	David Upton
1016049219	105k	HM LST-402 and USS LST-492 moored at Mulberry Harbor A off the Omaha Beachhead, Normandy, between 11 June and 19 June 1944. Mulberry Harbor A waa only in operation from 11 June to 19 June 1944 when a storm on the 19th caused enough damage that the Allies discontinued it's use. A frame from a short film named "Invasion of France: Landing of Equipment and Evacuation of Wounded". National Archives ID 77074. Local ID 428-NPC-4352; Department of the Navy	David Upton
1016040225	132k	HM LST-402 unloading her cargo at either Mulberry Harbor A off the Omaha Beachhead, or Mulberry Harbour B off the Gold Beachhead at Normandy, June 1944. Mulberry Harbor A waa only in operation from 11 June to 19 June 1944 when a storm on the 19th caused enough damage that the Allies discontinued it's use. A frame from a short film named "Invasion of France: Landing of Equipment and Evacuation of Wounded". National Archives ID 77074. Local ID 428-NPC-4352; Department of the Navy	David Upton
1016040226	129k
1016040227	126k
HM LSE(LC)-53
	65k	HM LSE(LC)-53 at anchor in Valletta harbor, Malta	Bob Porter
	683k	HM LSE(LC)-53 at anchor with a fresh coat of paint, date and location unknown	Bob Porter
1016040221	91k	HM LSE(LC)-53 at anchor, date and location unknown.	Greg Hicks
1016040221	79k	HM LSE(LC)-53 at anchor, date and location unknown.	Greg Hicks
	230k	HM LSE(LC)-53 crew photo taken at Valletta, Malta, circa 1944	Bob Porter
	292k	HM LSE(LC)-53 crew celebrating crossing the "line" Equator, February 1945	Bob Porter
1016040220	124k	HM LSE(LC)-53 Shipwrights, Aden 1945.	Greg Hicks
	44k	HM LSE(LC)-53 crew celebrating crossing the "line" Equator, February 1946	Allan Willcox
	60k
	78k
	31k	HM LSE(LC)-53 in drydocked at Singapore, June 1946.	Allan Willcox