On Friday we had the opportunity to tour the USS LST-325 at Ross's Landing in downtown Chattanooga. It is the last functioning Landing Ship Tank (LST) left in the world.
According to Nooga.com, LSTs are U.S. Navy ships that were designed for World War II in an effort to deliver battle-ready tanks, vehicles, soldiers and supplies directly onto enemy beaches.
My dad told me that these types of ships were often used around Papua New Guinea to move bulldozers to different sites around the island.
Another interesting fact is that these ships can hold enough diesel fuel to travel around the world 1.5 times without refueling. Click here to read more facts about the ship.
To enter the ship, we walked in through the open door that would be used for loading tanks or trucks. We then made our way up through the decks of the ship.
Seeing where the sailors would have slept, ate and worked.
There was even a jeep from the TV show M.A.S.H. on display.
As we made our way through the tour, we realized that one of the men walking behind us was actually a vet from WWII. We stopped and chatted with him for a bit, to learn some more history and to thank him for his service.
If you are interested in history, or just want to see a large ship, this is worth taking the tour.
The cost of the tour is $10 for adults and $5 (ages 6–17); children 5 and under are free. There is also a family rate of $20 for two adults and two children.
The tour will be running from 9-5 daily through September 17.
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