The Norfolk Navy Yard (NNY), as Norfolk Naval Shipyard was then known, was an industrial powerhouse both repairing and constructing warships during World War II. This story highlights ten specific tank landing ships (LST) that were built at NNY and participated in the D-Day landings in Normandy, France 79 years ago last month.
Of the 20 total LSTs that NNY built, 12 were constructed and launched in Dry Dock 8 while eight others were launched from the building ways structure.
First, some background on how our yard contributed to the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II (1939-1945).
During the war, 6,850 ships underwent repair, overhaul, alteration, modification, or conversion at NNY. This yard also supported the repair of six major British warships along with other Allied vessels. The Norfolk shipyard also saw the commissioning and final outfitting of 85 vessels that were built at other yards as well as the construction of another 101 vessels in its own yard.
Of the ships that arrived in Normandy, NNY was involved in the construction of two destroyers, three minesweepers, 50 landing craft mechanized (LCM), and ten tank landing ships (LST) that enabled the employees of Norfolk “to take the fight over there."
The local shipyard workforce, in excess of 43,000 employees, worked around the clock to produce vessels such as the Gleaves-class destroyers USS Herndon (DD-638) and USS Shubrick (DD-639), Raven-class minesweeper USS Osprey (AM-56), and the Auk-class minesweeper USS Auk (AM-57), along with a multitude of other LCMs and LSTs. Each ship contributed in its own way to the success of the invasion on June 6, 1944.
NNSY laid the keel for the first of 20 LSTs on July 17, 1942, and launched its final group on February 7, 1943. Each keel was 1,625 tons and they were numbered LST 333 through LST 352. The keels were among the more than 1,000 built during World War II whose designs met the demand for a draft deep enough for ocean travel and shallow enough for beaching troops and equipment. These LST’s collectively took part in the full range of amphibious operations in Europe and the Pacific during World War II.
In the NNY periodical, Speed Victory, dated July 5, 1944, a photo of NNY's LST 347 referred to the ship as an "Ugly Duckling" highlighting how she completed her mission "somewhere in Europe." The story goes on to discuss how shipyard workers studied daily news pictures in order to find information about the ships they had worked on. No matter what part they played in the building of each ship, they took pride in knowing that their ships were "over there" as a vital part of the invading force.
For those who would like to do more research, the ten NNY LST's that directly participated in the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France were:
NNY built - tank landing ships (LST)
LST 335 LST 345
LST 336 LST 346
LST 337 LST 347
LST 338 LST 350
LST 344 LST 351
| Date Taken: | 07.28.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.28.2023 14:40 |
| Story ID: | 450224 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 232 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Our Yard History: 10 Norfolk Navy Yard Landing Ships Went to Normandy, by Marcus Robbins, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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