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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS LST-325 (1943-1964)

USS LST-325, a 2366-ton LST-1 class tank landing ship, was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. Commissioned in February 1943, she crossed the Atlantic a month later as part of the first convoy of U.S. Navy LSTs to reach the European war zone. LST-325 took part in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the Salerno landings in September. In November, she moved to English waters, where she engaged in invasion rehersals into the following spring. In June 1944, LST-325 was one of the huge fleet that supported the Normandy invasion. She also participated in other operations along the northern coasts of France.

In March 1945, LST-325 crossed the Atlantic from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to the U.S. Overhauled at New Orleans, she was fitted with Brodie gear for launching and recovering light observation airplanes. She briefly exercised with that equipment in August 1945, just before Japan's surrender ended World War II. After a trip to Panama in September-October, she went to Green Cove Springs, Florida, for inactivation and was decommissioned there in July 1946.

LST-325 was brought back into service in about 1951 to take part in the Military Sea Transportation Service's arctic operations. She later received a reinforced bow to better suit her for work in icy waters. LST-325 was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in September 1961 and turned over to the Maritime Administration for inclusion in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Returned to the Navy in September 1963, she was modernized for further use under the Military Assistance Program. The ship was transferred to Greece in May 1964. Renamed Syros, she served in the Hellenic Navy until the late 1990s and was acquired by an American LST memorial organization in 2000.

This page features our only views of USS LST-325.

For additional photographs of this ship, showing her as a Greek Navy ship, see:

  • Syros (Greek LST, 1964-2000).

    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: SC 175981

    Sicily Invasion, July 1943


    USS Boise (CL-47) fires on enemy forces near Gela, Sicily, on 11 July 1943.
    Photographed by Sgt. Crosnon from USS LST-325. Note manned .50 caliber machine guns on several of the Army trucks embarked on the LST's deck, a precaution against German air attack.
    Morison, "History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II" (Vol. IX, page 107) states that Boise's targets were enemy tanks.

    Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 600 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-252795

    Normandy Invasion, June 1944


    USS LST-325 stranded at low tide on 12 June 1944, while she was delivering materiel to the Normandy beachhead.
    Note: sand ramp being constructed to permit unloading through her bow doors; ship's unsupported forward hull.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 605 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-252797

    Normandy Invasion, June 1944


    USS LST-325 (left) and USS LST-388 unloading while stranded at low tide during resupply operations, 12 June 1944.
    Note: propellers, rudders and other underwater details of these LSTs; 40mm single guns; barrage balloon; "Danforth" style kedge anchor at LST-325's stern.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: SC 194739

    Seige of Brest, France, August-September 1944


    USS LST-325 (right) and USS LST-72 unloading directly onto trucks, after being left "high and dry" by the tide at Morlaix, France, 5 September 1944.
    Photographed Harold.

    Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 600 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     

    For additional photographs of this ship, showing her as a Greek Navy ship, see:

  • Syros (Greek LST, 1964-2000).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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    Page made 2 December 2000