The LST That Became a "Highway" LST-393-- Part 3: "Heartbreak Highway"

I always have to wonder why LSTs were not also given names and just referred to by their number?  They were certainly big enough to have their own name.

The old two-lane highway between Muskegon and Grand Rapids, US-16, was so crowded with automobiles and trucks in the 1940s and 1950s, it was called "Heartbreak Highway."  Getting new cars from Detroit to Muskegon was a major reason I-96 was built in Michigan.  It was finished in 1962..  The LST-393, now called the MV Highway 16, delivered its first civilian cargo on June 24, 1948, and in its first week delivered 190 new GM cars.

It made nine trips a week at 14 mph with a 7 1/2 hour crossing, manned by a crew of 23.  It could carry 16 cars at a time and it took two hours to unload.  Cost to cost for a car was $7.

In 1949, the ship made 684 crossings.  On July 4, 1949, it was involved in the worst Muskegon boating accident ever when it struck the 25-foot cabin cruiser K-D-Bob II in the Muskegon Outer Channel.  Only 2 of 8 aboard the cruiser survived.

The ship last sailed on July 30, 1973.  After that, it was put out of business by trains.

Today the LST-393 is a museum ship.