Aircraft Carriers on the Great Lakes

From the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company--  Wikipedia.

During World War II, there was a great need for aircraft carriers to train the huge number of pilots needed in their service.  It was too dangerous for "practice" carriers on the Atlantic or Pacific oceans, but the Great Lakes were safe from enemy attack.

This company's ship, Greater Buffalo, 598 feet, was converted into the aircraft carrier USS Sable.  On its first day of service, 59 pilots became qualified after nine hours of operating planes with each doing eight landings and take-offs from the new carrier.

Landings and take-offs took place seven days a week.  One of the pilots who trained on the Sable was future president George H.W. Bush.

The Buffalo Line's See and Bee became the USS Wolverine aircraft carrier, also used on the Great Lakes.

Another Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company ship, the Greater Detroit, was not taken by the Navy and during the war saw its passenger revenue increase dramatically, partly due to gas rationing.  But business fell off tremendously after the war and the ship was soon retired.

--GreGen

The LST That Became a "Highway" LST-393-- Part 2: "Large Slow Targets"

In 1948, it became part of US-Highway 16 when it began ferry new cars and others between Muskegon, Michigan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The LST-393 was one of 1,051 built with half scrapped after the war.  Just a dozen LSTs now remain.  In case you're wondering, LST stands for Landing Ship Tank.  They were capable of landing tanks, vehicles and troops right on beaches during amphibious actions.

Sailors on them refereed to them as "Large Slow Targets," but others say these "Blue Collar Workhorses" were more important to the final Allied victory than the biggest, most modern battleships.

On March 28, 1948, the Wisconsin-Michigan Steamship Company, a subsidiary of Sand products Corporation of Detroit bought the LST-393 for $150,000.

There was a huge demand for new cars after the war (since none were made during most of it.  The Wisconsin-Michigan ferry Milwaukee Clipper couldn't keep up ferrying the cars across Lake Michigan.

Of interest, the LST-393 had delivered Muskegon-built tanks to Europe.

--GreGen

The LST That Become a "Highway" LST-393-- Part 1: 25 Years As MV Highway 16

From the June 10, 2013 M Live "Look back: WWII veteran ship spends time as a civilian on the Great Lakes" by Dave LeMieux.

LST-393, now a museum, spent 25 years as MV Highway 16 before becoming a museum in Muskegon, Michigan.  During the war it was at at landings on Sicily, Salerno, Italy and was at Omaha Beach on D-Day.  It won three Battle Stars during the war.

In 1948 it became MV Highway 16 when it began ferrying cars between Muskegon and Milwaukee.

--GreGen