LST-325: Ship's Brilliance on Display in Dubuque-- Part 1: Charged Head First Onto Enemy Beaches

From the April 23, 2018, Dubuque (Iowa) Tlegraph Herald by Ben Jacobson.

Vessel's versatilty addressed urgent needs during World War II.John Tallent believes the simplicity of the USS LST-325 belies the ship's brilliance.

Only a few short years separated the conception and completion and these landing ships were deployed by the U.S. en masse on multiple fronts during the war.  LSTs charged head first onto beaches with troops, trucks, tanks  sewing forth from them from a gaping hatch in the ship's bow.

The the coming war, there were no bureaucratic minutiae or subcommittee meetings to bog down innovation.  According to Tallent, there was just a need and an urgency to address needs.

"The solutions we came up with, we, the American people, to hellacious problems ... it just boggles the mind," said Tallent, president of the non-profit USS LST Ship Memorial and the deck officer of the ship's current voyage.

--GreGen