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World War Two brought innovations in the ways in which offensive maritime operations were carried out. Amphibious operations was a way of projecting great combat power to a hostile foreign shore to ensure ultimate victory. Tank Landing ships, designated LSTs, were built in non-traditional locations known as “corn belt shipyards,” such as Jefferson Boat and Machine Company, and steamed down inland rivers to the open ocean.[i] They were designed to embark vehicles and troops and put them ashore through large bow doors. Once offloaded in an opposed landing, they could be retracted from the beach by anchors that had been deployed astern. LST 510, nicknamed “the Woolworth ship,” was later renamed USS Buncombe County (LST 510). Today, over 80 years after being launched into the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana, the venerable and venerated ship, which once served as a ferry in Virginia, performs a similar task in the fleet of Cross Sound Ferries between Orient Point, New York, and New London, Connecticut. The management has gone to great lengths to recognize and honor the ship’s Navy heritage and those who served aboard, including displaying its hull number and service ribbons.
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| LST 510's plaque (Wikimedia Commons) |
LST 510 began its life on November 30, 1943, and was placed in full commission with Lieutenant George P. Andrews, a rough-hewn former enlisted man in command on January 31, 1944, after cruising down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans in reduced commission.[ii] Following shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico, the ship was loaded with another landing craft, LCT 709 (Landing Craft Tank), and left the United States from New York in convoy on March 29, 1944.[iii] The transit was complicated by bad weather, encountering icebergs, and the fact that it was loaded with 600 tons of ammunition. Only the captain had gone to sea before. The danger of German submarines was ever present, and one nearby ship in the convoy was torpedoed. Despite these factors, the ship reached Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on April 13, 1944, transited the Irish Sea, stopped briefly in Wales, and ultimately went to Plymouth, England.[iv] The month of May was spent making last preparations for the invasion, and on June 1, the ship embarked 250 men and associated vehicles, went to anchorage, and sealed the ship. After one attempt at cross-channel transit delayed by an unexpected storm, LST 510 got underway at 3:55 AM on June 5, arriving on the 6th.[v] As it approached shore near Vierville, the crew observed bodies in the bloody water, and offloaded troops and equipment onto self- propelled Mulberry barges known as “Rhinos.”
Ensuing operations involved evacuation of the wounded from Normandy to England and resupply of the forces ashore. Doctors worked to give life-saving care in what became known as a “Hall of Mercy,” and resupply of troops ashore was accomplished at the port of Le Havre. Other supplies and ammunition were delivered on Omaha and Utah Beaches. In certain instances, the ship transited the Seine River as far upstream as Rouen. On one occasion at Christmas, near Cherbourg, the ship hit an underwater obstruction, was towed back to Portland, and dry docked for repairs.[vi]
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| LST 510 after hitting an underwater obstruction, December 1944 (Navsource.org) |
For three months, the ship fell into the routine of cross-channel transits. On February 5, 1945, in a dense fog south of the Isle of Wight, it collided bow-on with SS Chapel Hill Victory. Considerable damage was done to the port bow door, the ramp, and the bow area. In addition, Seaman Mark H. Warren was killed.[vii] The ship was dry docked at Falmouth for extensive repairs, spending the next four months in the yard.[viii] On June 7, 1945, it departed Falmouth to return to the United States. The ship was decommissioned in July 1946 and placed in an inactive ship facility near Jacksonville and later withdrawn, recommissioned, and renamed USS Buncombe County (LST 510) on July 1, 1955. Declared unfit for further service, it was finally stricken from active naval service on November 1, 1958.
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| LST 510 after colliding with SS Chapel Hill Victory, February 1945 (Navsource.org) |
In 1959, the former USS Buncombe County (LST 510) began what has been an uneventful protracted civilian career amassing some 64 years of service. First sold to the Chesapeake Bay Ferry Corporation in Norfolk, Virginia, it and two other LSTs were converted at the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corporation. This entailed modification of the stern so that up to 90 cars could be loaded through the bow doors and discharged through the after end. It was renamed M/V Virginia Beach, and the two others M/V Northampton and Old Point Comfort. The former LSTs provided car and passenger service between a pier at Little Creek and Cape Charles, on the Eastern Shore. The service operated until April 15, 1964, when the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel opened.
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| M/V Virginia Beach (Navsource.org) |
The new facility was opened on a cloudy day, marred by an impending stormy weather. Lucius Kellam, Executive Director of the Bay Bridge Authority, and Mrs. Mills Godwin, wife of the Governor of Virginia, conducted the ceremony. Concurrently, Theodore C. Bright of the Delaware River and Bay Authority handed over a check for $3,265,000 to purchase the former USS LST 510 and its two sister ships. It was renamed SS Cape Henlopen and was to provide ferry service from the Delaware coast to North Cape May, New Jersey.[ix]
The ship served from July 1964 until the summer of 1975, when it began an unproductive period. In 1983, Cross Sound Ferry Service bought the ship and began an ambitious refurbishment effort. The entire main cabin was gutted and redecorated with photos of the 1945 crew; the June 6, 1944, invasion of Normandy; and contemporaneous quotes. One such wall panel contained a statement by Vincent Lijoi, who noted, “We actually saved the world, thank God for America.” The goal of Cross Sound Ferries was thus to honor the young men who had worn the cloth of the nation and in so doing changed the course of history.
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| LST 510 as the Cape Henlopen Ferry (Wikimedia Commons) |
While serving in a daily pedestrian way, the ship’s crew responded to the needs of other mariners. On August 14, 2021, Captain Eva Van Camp, United States Coast Guard, presented a Coast Guard Certificate of Merit to the crew of Cape Henlopen. On July 20, 2021, crew members steaming the ship to New London had seen and rescued five boaters from a foundering small boat. As the captain observed, “This is not only what the Coast Guard does, but also what ferries do.”[x] The Steamship Historical Society has conferred its highest honor, the prestigious Ship of the Year Award, on Cape Henlopen. In so doing, it noted that it is one of the few ferries in the world with such lengthy service.[xi] In fact, the ship reached the 80th anniversary of the start of construction on September 23, 1943, having served with distinction in war and peace.
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| Service bar on SS Cape Henlopen (Wikimedia Commons) |
Notes:
[i] Over 120 LSTs were built in Jeffersonville, Indiana on the banks of the Ohio River.
[ii] “LST 510, One Battle Star,” LST Scuttlebutt, December, 1990, p. 16.
[iii] This vessel landed elements of the 50th Signal Company, U.S. Army, at Utah Beach, Normandy on June 6, 1944
[iv] Ltr, Ship’s History, USS LST 510, File P1-7 Serial 17, 13 January 1946, pp.1-8
[v] See again Ltr note ii, p.4.
[vi] See again Ltr note ii, p.7
[vii] Ltr, War Diary, Commander LST Group 49 to Commander U.S. Fleet, 17 March 1945.
[viii] Report of Changes in the Muster Rolls of USS LST 510, Month of February 1945, in the case of Seaman Second Class Mack H. Warren, 575-42-06, who died on February 5, 1945.
[ix] “Traffic Rolls Across the Bay, Span in Business,” Norfolk Virginian Pilot, April 16, 1964.
[x] “Coast Guard Honors Cross Sound Ferry Crew for July Rescue,” East End Beacon, Beth Young, August 17th, 2020, p. 1.
[xi] Cross Sound Ferry Vessel Earns “Ship of the Year” Honor, North Fork Patch, September 24, 2021.
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