LST (511) - Naval Cruise Book

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LST-5ll lurks off the Normandy bea if beaches, in addition to 5 trips to the British assault beaches. After the French coastal and river ports were liberated, the LST- Sll began discharging her loads on the docks and beaches of Cherbourg, Le Havre, and Rouen, up the Seine River. Twice she Was tied up to H ,, Vrfffr arf ..... -.z,A,,.u .... Q VV,Y, .V VVVY ..........Y...,V,V, -

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N. LST-511 was built in Seneca, Illinois, by the Chicago Bridge 81 Iron Company in the fall and early winter of1943. On December 18th of that year, her original Navy crew of 7 officers and 71 'men and a Coast Guard ferry crew boarded the new ship and piloted her down the Illinois and lwississippi Rivers to New Orleans, Louisiana, where, on January 3rd, 1944, she was commissioned the U.S.S. LST-511. Under the command of Lieutenant John Yacevich, USN, of Troy, New York, LST-511 made her Hshakedownn cruise to Panama City, Florida, in the latter part of January, 1944. There, Captain J. R. Johannesen, USN, and his staff boarded her, and she became the flagship for the ELEVENTH LST Flotilla, of which Captain Johannesen was commander. After returning to New Orleans, the LST-511 sailed, on February 14th, for New York, on the first lap of the trip that would lead her to the Normandy coast for the invasion of France. After brief stops for last-minute prep- arations in New York, Boston, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, the LST-511 sailed, on hlarch 14th, 1944, in a large convoy of LSTs and merchantmen, across the North Atlantic to the small Welsh town of Port Talbot. Early in April, the LST-511 moved to Falmouth, on the south coast of England, and from there to Plymouth for pre-invasion exercises and, finally, on June lst, to load Army personnel and material for the Normandy invasion. As a part of the Westei'n Naval Task Force, the LST-511 arrived in the assault area off Omaha beach on the afternoon of D-day, where she remained for 2 days, discharging Army personnel and material and receiving casualties. As a hospital-fitted ship, the LST-511 had aboard 2 Navy doctors and 20 hospital corpsmen, plus an Army surgical team. On this and subsequent trips to the assault beaches, the ship evacu- ated nearly 1,000 wounded to Army and Navy hospitals in England. On one trip alone, 297 wounded Gls were returned to base hospitals. In the days and months which followed June 6th, the LST-511 made 31 round trips from south coast English ports to Omaha and Utah uf Brzlgf H11-wry

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fig ,-f'i ,.g ,a. E , V ,V V W W MW M, 1 U I g ' ' ' K ' '-' ' ' Y -f '-7 -wt!!-.L zl -:Y-xi..3'g?5fv1jSm-'. ' ' K ' ' ' ' head awaiting orders to hit the beach. -Official U. S. Navy Photograph ll the floating docks of the famed Mulbe1'1'y artificial harbor. In all, the LST-5ll crossed the English Channel 100 times, taking fresh troops and new tanks, trucks, and jeeps into France and returning to England With Wounded and battle-Weary Gls, battered equipment, and German from ,, ,,,.,. i,,,,,,att i ,,,e .i,., 4 tag, 4 fe, ,t , Y X N