USS LST-291

USS LST-291 was a LST-1-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II by the American Bridge Company in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

History
United States
Name:	USS LST-291
Builder:	American Bridge Company, Ambridge, Pennsylvania
Laid down:	25 September 1943
Launched:	14 November 1943
Stricken:	19 May 1954
Honours and awards:	1 battle star (World War II)
Fate:	Sunk as a target, July 1954
General characteristics
Class and type:	LST-1-class tank landing ship
Displacement:	1,780 long tons (1,809 t) light 3,880 long tons (3,942 t) full
Length:	328 ft (100 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Draft:	Unloaded: Bow: 2 ft 4 in (0.71 m) Stern: 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) Loaded : Bow: 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m) Stern: 14 ft 1 in (4.29 m)
Propulsion:	2 General Motors 12-567 diesel engines, two shafts, twin rudders
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried:	Two to six LCVPs
Troops:	approx. 140 officers and enlisted
Complement:	8–10 officers, 100–115 enlisted
Armament:	5 × 40 mm gun mounts 6 × 20 mm gun mounts 2 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns 4 × .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine guns

LST-291 was laid down on 25 September 1943 and launched 14 November 1943. During World War II, the LST-291 was assigned to the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater, and participated in the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944.[1]

In 1954, she ran aground on a coral reef off James Point, Eleuthera in the Bahamas. After 11 days of salvage operations which involved blasting a 1,000 foot channel through the reef, she was freed from the reef and towed back to the drydock at Jacksonville, Florida.[2] The damage she sustained was too extensive, however, and LST-291 was decommissioned, struck from the Naval Register on 19 May 1954, and sunk as a target in July 1954.

LST-291 earned one battle star for World War II service.