USS LST-355

USS LST-355 was an LST-1-class tank landing ship of the United States Navy active during the Second World War.

USS LST-355 unloading trucks while high and dry on the beach at Normandy, circa June 1944.
History
United States
Name:	USS LST-355
Builder:	Charleston Navy Yard
Laid down:	7 September 1942
Launched:	16 November 1942
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Wendell E. Kraft
Commissioned:	22 December 1942
Decommissioned:	6 March 1946
Stricken:	31 October 1947
Honours and awards:	2 battle stars
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 10 April 1948
General characteristics
Class and type:	LST-1-class tank landing ship
Displacement:	4,080 long tons (4,145 t) full
Length:	328 ft (100 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Draft:	Light : 2 ft 4 in (0.71 m) forward 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) aft Sea-going : 8 ft 3 in (2.51 m) forward 14 ft 1 in (4.29 m) aft Landing : 3 ft 11 in (1.19 m) forward 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m) aft
Propulsion:	2 × General Motors 900 hp (671 kW) 12-567 diesel engines, 2 shafts, twin rudders
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Range:	24,000 nmi (44,000 km) at 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) while displacing 3960 tons
Complement:	9 officers, 120 enlisted
Armament:	2 × twin 40 mm gun mounts w/Mk.51 directors 4 × single 40 mm gun mounts 12 × single 20 mm gun mounts

She was laid down in September 1942 at the Charleston Navy Yard, sponsored by Mrs. Wendell E. Kraft and commissioned in December 1942. Lt. Norman L. Knipe, Jr., USNR, in command.

LST-355 first saw service at the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and then at the Salerno landings in September. In 1944 she moved to England to support the Normandy landings, landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day.

Following the end of the war, she served on occupation duties in the Far East, before being decommissioned in March 1946 and sold for scrapping in April 1948 to Consolidated Builders, Inc., Seattle, Wash.