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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

HM LST-427

LST-427 was transferred to the United Kingdom for the duration of World War II

LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship:

Laid down, 22 November 1942, at Bethlehem Fairfield Co., Baltimore, MD.

Launched, 19 December 1942

LST-427 saw no active service in the United States Navy

Transferred to the United Kingdom and commissioned HM LST-427, 16 February 1943

Participated in the Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Normandy and Malaya operations (MacDermott Ships Without Names)

Decommissioned by the Royal Navy and returned to US Navy custody, 11 April 1946

Struck from the Naval Register, 10 June 1947

Final Disposition, sold, 5 December 1947, to Bosey, Philippines and subsequently scrapped

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 /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

Size	Image Description	Source
85k	HM LST-427 alongside LST-401 (at left) while loading at Tripoli, date unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
40k	HM LST-427 loading at Bizerte, date unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
86k	HM LST-427 unloading at Cape Passero, Sicily, circa 9 July 1943.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
93k	HM LST-427 unloading at Sicily, date unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
93k	HM LST-427 and other LSTs in convoy as they approach 'Bark South' Beach, Sicily, 10 July 1943.	Robert Hurst
89k	HM LST-427 beached at Sicily while landing reinforcements, date unknown.	Robert Hurst
67k	HM LST-427 and two unidentified Royal Navy LSTs. beached on D-Day, 9 July 1943 at Sicily. The identification of all three LSTs is uncertain. The numbers 325 and 326 on the bows were probably numbers assigned just for the Sicily invasion. It was by these numbers that the ships were ordered into the beach to deliver troops, supplies and equipment. This photo was taken by the CO of HM LST-427 therefore it is reasonable to assume that the LST numbered 325 is most likely *LST-427*.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
53k	HM LST-427 off the beachhead at Salerno, circa 9 September 1943.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
50k	HM LST-427 beached along with another LST at Salerno, date unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
71k	HM LST-427 and another LST approaching the beach at Salerno, date unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
46k	HM LST-427 at Salerno with landing craft approaching her port bow, circa 9 September 1943.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
89k	HM LST-427 off the beachhead at Salerno with troops and equipment waiting to go ashore, date unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
63k	HM LST-427 beached at Salerno along with another LST, unloading equipment, date unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
27k	HM LST-427 approaching the beachhead at Anzio, circa 22 January 1944.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
88k	HM LST-427 in tiny harbor at Anzio, while landing trucks and other equipment, date unknown.	Robert Hurst
41k	HM LST-427 at anchor during "Operation Neptune", June 1944. .	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
79k	Looking from the bridge of HM LST-427 toward 'Sword' beach during the Invasion of Normandy, 6 June 1944. HM LST-423 is just ahead of HM LST-427 off her starboard bow with other LSTs moving in column toward the beaches.	Robert Hurst
61k	HM LST-427 loading a Rhino ferry , date and place unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
65k	HM LST-427 tank deck with wounded soldiers being Medivaced, date unknown.	Graeme Orchard for his father Bill Orchard Signalman RN HM LST-427
71k	HM LST-427 tank deck with some of the 456 casualties she had aboard being Medivaced to England, date unknown.	Robert Hurst
70k	HM LST-427 unloading at what is thought to be Mulberry 'A' at St. Laurent in mid-June 1944, just before it was destroyed in the great gale.	Robert Hurst
75k	HM LST-427 unloading trucks at a Mulberry Harbor at Normandy in June 1944.	Robert Hurst
105k	HM LST-427 arriving at Gosport, England with German POWs on board, summer 1944.	Robert Hurst
84k	HM LST-403 and HM LST-427 beached and discharging CEVs in the Far East. Imperial War Museum Ministry of Defense Foxhill Collection of Ship Photographs, Photo No. © IWM(FL 7160)	Mike Green