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Progress Report Archives - April, 2007 - June, 2007
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| Progress Report Update Posted June 6, 2007 |
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Here we go again with a Progress report. I know it is late and I must apologize for that. It has been a hectic couple of weeks. Hopefully things will get back to a more normal routine and I can maintain a little better schedule. On this report we will be a little shy of the normal amount of photos that we are accustomed to but with the History Channel and the D Day Re enactors there will be plenty to see. Some of the photos that we have here will also appear in the Phoenix Newsletter. Sorry for the duplication but it's worth it. I seriously considered shooting the D Day photos in B&W to add some flavor but decided against it. I may convert some just for effect. But, anyway, on to the Progress Report.
Don |
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| #1 As has become a familiar sight Larry is needle gunning a life jacket locker on the aft 01 level. This area is his little domain and he's doing a good job on it. #2 As with Larry, Roy can be found most times with his trusty grinder removing paint from just about any surface. This tool is heavier and seems to be more awkward that a needle gun but Roy has a preference for it. #3 Doug, Cotton and Ray continue to work on the bow ramp wench for the #2 LCVP so that it can be used on D Day. This has been quite a feat but it all came together. |
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| #4 The movable gangway that we use when cruise ships tie up along side for some reason had hand rail painted yellow. This just would not work so Marvin decided to give it it's dignity back and applied a coat of haze gray. Now it looks much better. #5 Perry worked several days in the radio shack. He keeps everything running ship shape. #6 Dave and Margaret Burgess from the New Jersey group came in to help Perry. Here Dave helps Perry to wring out wiring. Margaret was a little camera shy. |
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| #7 Big Bob Lenn is back on tour guide duty after an absence due to health problems. Bob, it's sure good to have you back, we missed you. Bob always gives his tour groups a test at the end of the tour.
#8 Ray works on the gas firing system for one of our 40MMs. We were hopeful that it would be used for the D Day event but it didn't work out.
#9 Larry has preped and painted the area for the new ships name plate. After much research he was able to determine the proper wording on the sign and has had two made at his own expense. This one is now mounted on the bulkhead between the engine room enunciators. Thanks Larry.
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| #10 Since the radio room is now air conditioned the old venting system is being removed and placed into storage. Not an easy job but our guys "got er done". #11 Once again Doug has hooked up with his favorite tool. (the needle gun) he is now working his way down the starboard side of the ship. #12 Harry and Bill placed a plaque on the bulkhead next to the photo of Cdr. Jackson Carter, XO, on the trip from Greece. Cdr. Carter has since passed away. |
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| #13 Tom Price from Bowling Green, Ohio has lent us his USMC radio jeep. Tom also is the owner of the LCT that can be seen in many of the D Day scenes. #14 A new "Old Glory" has been placed on each of the LCVP's. She waves proudly. #15 No one is exempt from work on LST 325. Here Mike Whicker is seen putting a vacuum cleaner away after cleaning a portion of the deck.... |
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D-Day Reenactment Photos Coming Soon!
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| A special addition to the Progress Report from Perry Ballinger LST's "Radio Central" |
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While I was out to the ship this past week we had visitors from the USS New Jersey (a battleship berthed in Camden, NJ) who we worked with last June while stripping the USS Des Moines cruiser at Philadelphia. Seems they appreciated our helping them remove one of the two high power transmitters by helping them haul it up three decks and out to their trailer. They wanted to see the LST and also reciprocate by helping me with whatever I was doing.
Two of them, Dave and Margaret Burgess, helped me immensely (Tuesday and Wednesday) with cable and wiring identification and work on our recently acquired high power transmitter. This three day job (for one person) took one day with our working together. Their help was much appreciated. |
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| Then on Thursday I left for Dayton, OH, for the annual Amateur Radio Convention and helped Dave and Margaret set up their USS New Jersey exhibit booth. It's great to know that all museum ship volunteers are not "competitors" (for parts) but friends and helpers in perpetuating the existence and history of our wonderful ships. Dave and Margaret are some of the finest volunteer workers I know, and Margaret also takes care of coordination for the annual "Museum Ships on the Air" weekend, featuring over 75 memorial ships around the world that power up their radio rooms for on-the-air contacts. Our LST is one of the participants. |
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| Progress Report Update Posted May 29, 2007 A Special Posting from Captain Hal Pierce |
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On May 21st, Kirby Inland Marina had their 98 foot tour boat "Motor Vessel Observer" in town. Slade Hooks and Hal Pierce, among 125 others were, invited on a beautiful dinner cruise in Mobile Harbor and the Delta. I took advantage of the occasion. I happened to have three LST 325 "River Trip" hats left. We made the following presentation:
Kirby Inland Marine
Steve Valerius, President
Jim Guidry, Vice President
Dave Brasell, Sales Manager
One of the greatest achievements in veteran history was the return to the United States of LST 325 by a bunch of old veterans.One of the greatest events in this history of Mobile was the welcome and nurturing of that old ship and those old men. One of the greatest events in the recent history of LST 325 was the trip up the Mississippi River where they showed their ship to 75,000 people and took in over a half million dollars. One of the greatest services to that ship and the crew came from Kirby Inland Marine, who pick that ship up from the very landing where we are today, took it over to the Mississippi River and sent it up the river on the "River Trip". Today, four years later in fond memory and forever appreciation of that Kirby deed, we would like to present you the last three LST 325 "River Trip" hats. It is our pleasure to deal with such a great company. Captain Hal Pierce Navy Port Coordinator Mobile, Alabama |
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| Progress Report Update Posted May 19, 2007 |
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The folks from Toyota came aboard and painted their hearts out. They really did a fine job. We just can't say how much we appreciate the work that they did. They helped to make the old girl sparkle.........
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| Progress Report Update Posted May 17, 2007 |
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Here we go again with more projects, large and small, that are ongoing on LST 325. Everyone has been very busy getting things done. I must apologize for not having this report out earlier but sometimes things just get bogged down in the process. We are still receiving artifacts. They are not coming as fast as we would like but that is ok - we'll take what we can get. Next week we'll see some photos of new additions to the artifact displays. But for now we'll see some of the things that have been going on for the last week or so......
Enjoy! Don |
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| #1 This is the bow ramp winch on the port LCVP. The base was pretty well rotted away so the guys are building a new one.
#2 Ray and Dorris are working on the layout for the base. This winch will have to be in working order for the boat to be used in the reenactment in June.
#3 Ray and Dorris working on the old winch base.
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| #4 We have a couple of Boy Scouts that are working on their Eagle Award and are volunteering on the ship. They are Greg Miller and Nick Helfert from Troop 399. #5 The Scouts will be working on this gun. They will chip and prepare the gun for painting. #6 The ship has acquired a much needed scissor lift. It will be stored on the tank deck and the only way to get it down is the elevator. Here Ed, Harry and Matt work on getting the controls to function properly. |
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| #7 After much grunting and straining the elevator is on it's way down with the scissor lift on board. #8 A safe landing on the tank deck. This is the first time I've seen the elevator in operation. Reminded me of the aircraft elevators on an aircraft carrier. Just on a smaller scale. #9 The capstan has been completely primed and is now ready for some haze gray. |
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| #10 Meet Tom Horter our newest volunteer. Tom drew the assignment of organizing the paint locker. He seemed to enjoy it. #11 More of Doug's fantail work. Here the bulkhead below the strbd aft gun tub is being prepped. It will have the new shell casing cage remounted. #12 Same bulkhead but with a fresh coat of primer. |
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| 13 One of the great mysteries of the ship has been solved. Where does all the peanut butter go. Now we know. Capt. Queeg had his strawberries. We have our peanut butter. #14 The engines have had plastic valve covers for a while. #15 Now we know why. Boats took the valve covers home with him and had them painted. They really look nice now. |
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| #16 Perhaps you saw the new name plate that Larry Hahn had made on the discussion page a few weeks back. Well, this is where it will be installed. Larry is preparing the surface for installation. #17 Kieth is conducting a tour of folks from Evansville and St. Louis. #18 The old radio room vent is coming down. This is a tougher operation than it looks. |
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| #19 More of the old radio room vent. #20 This is our very own DUKW. It may not be pristine but it's ours. Thank you George and Rita Caddick for your wonderful gift to LST 325 as well as to the city of Evansville. #21 Suddenly we're seeing anchors popping up around us. This one is in front of the new quonset PX building. |
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| #22 This anchor is at the restaurant entrance to the ship. And there are two others on the opposite side of the parking lot. We will have photos later of the large anchors that are going to be installed at Water Works Rd. and Veterans Memorial Parkway. They will have to have concrete pads poured for the to sit on. #23 Ed, Matt and Brandon are working to get the LCVP ready for the festivities in June. |
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| Progress Report Update Posted May 5, 2007 |
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May is here and the work continues on LST 325. It was great having the work crew here last week and they accomplished a lot. Now we are back to our routine and we are still knocking out the jobs one by one. The weather has been up and down with days of wonderful sunshine and also days of clouds and rain. The nice thing about the ship is that we have work to do in and out. As I have watched and recorded the work that our maintenance crew gets done I am in awe of these guys. I don't think there is anything on this ship that they cannot do. They can make something out of nothing, and it will work.
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| #1 There were hinge pins and bolts that had to be replaced and pieces welded in. Here Dorris is grinding out the old and is preparing the surface to weld in the new piece.
#2 This is a small area but it is as strong as new now. The old hinge pin bolts were just wallowing around. Now they fit properly.
#3 Ray is seen here cutting out the old bolts and making ready for the new ones.
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| #4 The old rusted out 40 mm shell casing cage has been removed and will be replaced with a new one. #5 Doug is grinding the bulkhead where the cage was taken from. A new one will be constructed and be remounted on this bulkhead. #6 Pete pressure washes the base of the capstan. He will then needle gun and paint the remaining area that has not been finished. |
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| #7 The capstan is now ready for additional work. #8 Another milestone for Marvin. He is presented with his red, one thousand hour badge by Sandy Whicker. #9 Ken shows the shipboard museum to a couple visiting us from Connecticut. |
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| #10 We have a new neighbor just up the river bank. This group has moved into the area in preparation for the "Clean Sweep" of the river. That clean up will begin shortly. #11 Harry has also taken up residence in the strbd shaft alley. Once again he's doing his magic in redoing the wiring so that there can be permanent lighting in this area of the ship. #12 Jim is seen cutting stock in preparation for the fabrication of the new 40mm shell casing cage. |
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| #13 Ray and Jim are fabricating the cage and are about ready to start welding. #14 Ed, Brandon and Matt are lowering the port LCVP so that some additional work can be done on it. #15 The LCVP is now sitting in it's cradle on the barge. The ramp has been lowered and the work can now begin. |
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| #16 We have a new family that is living aboard with us. They have taken up residence in a cut off hose on the spare Gray Marine engine on the main deck. Maybe someone will write a song, "When the Swallows return to LST 325". #17 Ed was not exactly sure as to how to flake out a hauser so he is consulting "The Bluejackets Manual". And sure enough he found the proper way to do it. Now Boats will be happy with him. #18 Matt and Ed flake out these old hausers that have been stored below decks for a very long time. |
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| #19 This is the old decking that has been in the conn for years. It is being replaced with new. #20 Doug and Ray are replacing the old conn decking. It was a tight fit but as always they made it fit. #21 This cross was a Greek Icon that was removed from the jack staff to make way for a light. Boats kept it in a safe place until we were able to replace it. |
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| #22 Doug cleaned and painted the cross and made a bracket for it to be fitted back to the jack staff. It looks very nice there.......
That's about all for now. We will keep plugging away and will have more later. As always, if anyone has any suggestions to make our report better, we are all ears and eyes........
Don |
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| Progress Report Update Posted May 1, 2007 More Photos from Work Week! |
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For more Work Week photos - Click Here
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| Progress Report Update Posted April 28, 2007 Work Week! |
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Here we are nearly to the end of April. It doesn't seem possible that the time is flying so fast. Last week, as many of you know, was work week. We had guys from all over come aboard and really work hard. They certainly left their mark and we will have a special PR soon to highlight what they accomplished. They were a hard working group and it shows. While the work week volunteers where busy our own maintenance crew was busy with the everyday things that have to be done: |
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| #1 Bing is really not laying down on the job. This is the easiest way to paint the rollers on each side of the ship. #2 Pete is still working in the area of the capstan. Here he reassembles the controls. #3 Please not the reconditioned brass control lever. Ed does it again. |
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| #4 After all the noise I endured while Larry needle gunned the vents on the 01 level aft you can see that it was worth it. They really look good. He also did a couple of hatch covers while he was at it. I must admit that Larry's noise was not as bad as the chipping of the frame work below the LCVPs. #5 One of the newer guys to come on board to help with maintenance is Cotton Mears. Here he is needle gunning and area on the 01 level. #6 Doug gets a coat of primer on the area under the port LCVP before the rains come. This area was needle gunned by the guys on work week but time ran out on them before it could be painted. |
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| #7 Doug uses one of his favorite colors to trim out the stern winch (yes, I finally learned to spell it). And you will see later that it has gotten him into some trouble with Pete. Never one to hold a grudge we think will forgive him, eventually..... #8 We have seen several shots of this area but it just keeps getting better. This is another example of Dougs love of the color red and his second favorite, yellow. Note the pelican hook. #9 Harold is seen here chipping paint off of one of the firefighting lockers. This area is in the port doghouse. Not only is Harold doing the fire fighting cabinet but he is also doing the bulkheads. He told me he thought this was a very important area to look nice because it's the first below decks area that our tours see. |
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| #10 It seems that Larry has adopted the aft 01 level much the way Doug has adopted the fantail. He has the vents and hatch covers in this area looking like new. Here he is chipping one of the large vents in that area. #11 Not to be outdone Pete is working on the foc'sle. He has much of the capstan looking like new but still has more work to do on it. Here he is chipping on one of the life jacket lockers. Note that Pete can work one handed. #12 One day last week we needed to move the heavy trailer around and haul some trash to the dumpster. Pete volunteered to bring his nice Blue Jeep aboard to pull the trailer. This was a day when Doug was really on a roll with his needle gun. Seeing the blue jeep and thinking it to be faded gray paint Doug had it needle gunned and a fresh coat of red paint on it before anyone noticed. The only problem was he missed the fender flares. I think he's going to trim them out in yellow. |
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| #13 Ray had to grind out the broken lever on one of the wire hooks and reweld it. #14 He also had to repair the base of the aft starboard bollard which had cracked. Many of these repairs have to be made before the upcoming river cruise. #15 Having not used all the red paint on Pete's jeep Doug trimmed out the port side of the stern winch. The photo above shows him working on the starboard side. |
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| #16 If anyone wonders what the aftermath of needle gunning is it can be seen in this five gallon bucket. These were swept up after doing just a small area. #17 Here is a small portion of a group of elementry school students that came aboard this week. They were from St. Theresa School. Dick Scheller is their guide. #18 This is the St. Theresa School group. |
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| #19 I'm sure most of you have read on the discussion page about the exploits of our own Doug Myers. After foiling a burglary at a nearby business Doug held the culprits until the police could arrive. Here he is interviewed by a local television station. The story was on all the local stations plus the newspaper. #20 Harry Manor has been presented with his red name badge denoting one thousand hours of volunteer service. Congratulations Harry. #21 We now have fresh new sides on the quarter deck tent. The winds of winter did a terrible number on the old sides. They were ripped to shreds. Now we have some protection from the wind... Don Hardesty |
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| Click Here for more photos from April, 2007 Work Week! | ||
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| Progress Report Update Posted April 27, 2007 |
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Captain's Update April 2007 |
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Hi to all you LST fans and all the ships at sea:
Another great year for LST 325 is underway. The ship came through the winter in great shape thanks to the constant efforts of the
LST Work Week April 14 - 20 was a huge success with 17 volunteers converging on the ship to battle the rust and peeling paint. This group of LST fans traveled over 14,000 miles to be worked hard, to get dirty, and to get spotted with haze grey paint. What a job they did chipping, painting, and restoring - the aft end of the tank deck (with the Greek flag) including the two ladders, the half deck, and the two water tight hatches going into crew's quarters. They also chipped and painted 50 feet of the bulkheads going forward both sides in the tank deck. They also worked on the 01 level, port boat davit, stern anchor wench, main engine room and auxiliary engine room. The names of the work week crew, in no particular order, are: Ken Frank, Tom Deiner, Terry Tull, Don Lockas (with one 's'), Jerry Howe, Ad Mumford, Bill Arras, John Murdock, Bruce Voges, Ron Bezouska, Bill Rockey, Perry Ballinger, Ken & Anna Adams, Bill & Judy Spencer, Steve & Jo Watt, Chip Lanham and from Evansville Larry Hahn, Ray Cashen, Joe Lewin, Doug Myers, and Pete Crasher (our maintenance chief). I hope I did not leave anyone out. The ship's main engines were started and run fine along with a lot of other equipment. Joe Lewin and Bill Rockey fixed breakfast, lunches, and a few dinners. A pizza party was enjoyed by the work week crew on Wednesday night. As you know we also have some fun! The ship was thoroughly cleaned at the end of the week so as not to leave a mess for our Our prayers are with Perry Ballinger whose mother passed away, with Jim Edwards whose wife, Doris, passed away recently, and with the family of Joe Milakovich who died April 23rd. After Bill Spencer left the work week and returned home, he had a stroke and died two days later on April 26th. We mourn the loss of these LST fans and our hearts go out to the families. The volunteers in
As a side note, the ship will run on Note: We are planning to give a ride on LST 325 to our volunteer crew and families before the ship departs on August 17th. I have been asked to talk to the Ohio LST and Amphib Reunion of June 4th in May you have smooth seas for sailing. Bob Jornlin, Capt. LST 325 |
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| Progress Report Update Posted April 20, 2007 |
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| It's that time again, in fact, it's past time. I must apologize for being a tad bit tardy on this edition of the progress report. We have been very busy this week. What with all the out of town guys knocking and banging on everything in sight. But, that will be for the next progress report. We did receive a lot more artifacts this week. Bill Arras has once again loaded us up and I've been busy getting them cataloged, tagged and put away. Now on to the tardy progress report: |
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| #1 Larry gives the completed crews head a test flight and it has met with his approval. Sure does look different from when I first saw it. #2 I promise this will be the last head shot you will get from me for a long, long time. I'm sure your tired of looking at commodes. But the transition has been a great thing to see. #3 Dan Siple and Sgt. Jim Goodall are adapting a couple of our forty MMs to make big bangs for the D-Day reenactments. The mechanism they are installing on the guns use a mixture of propane and oxygen and with the assistance of a sparkplug they make a mighty bang. Can't wait to see them in action. |
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| #4 Doug is continuing to paint on the fantail. If someone doesn't stop him I think he completely encircle the entire ship with new paint.
#5 Ooops, another head shot. Gene puts the finishing touches on the plumbing.
#6 George has been working diligently to get the ovens in the galley working properly. Now Joe will be able to turn out more of that great chow that he is famous for.
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| #7 It really isn't a Martian. It's only Pete dressed to do a little work in a tight spot.
#8 Pete has the old air lance going in one of the escape trunks. The wind blew and the dust flew but he got a lot of old paint off those bulkheads.
#9 Now that Harry has the lights working in the port shaft alley you can see whats in there. The Shaft..... |
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| #10 Now that the lighting is complete in the port shaft alley Harry has to clean up his mess. He seemed kind of excited though because he had another good job looking him in the face.....the Starboard shaft alley. Go get em Harry. #11 Ray is cutting out the old vent screens on the bottom side of the davits. They had a considerable amount of old grease collected on them from the many years of use. Now they will have new screens and will look much nicer. #12 No matter what we do to collect admission fees from everyone who comes aboard there's always some that slip in. But they really are nice little guys. |
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| #12a Pete is needle gunning the main capstan on the foc'sle. It looked pretty nasty when he started. #13 The capstan looks so much better now with a fresh coat of primer. What a difference a little work can make. #14 Just a close up of the top of the capstan. Looks like new. |
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| #15 As you know I really am attracted to anything brass. Here Ed has done a great job of cleaning the brass control for the capstan. It will be mounted later and I'll give you a shot of the finished product. #16 This is a nice view of the elevator drive mechanism. Cheryl Bingemer did a lot of the painting on this equipment and I took a photo of her when she was working but somehow managed to delete it before I could use it. My apologizes Cheryl, but if you will come back and paint some more I promise to do a better job. #17 Roy continues to grind paint. Here he is working on the port bos'ns locker. |
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#18 You might say we began and ended this segment of the progress report with clowns. A clown convention was in Evansville and toured LST 325. However, only one was in makeup. Look at this picture and see if you can identify the real clown..... Don |
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| Progress Report Update Posted April 14, 2007 |
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Updated 2007 Summer Cruise Itinerary* |
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| Progress Report Update Posted April 8, 2007 |
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| Once again it's time for a progress report on the things that are going on aboard LST 325. What a difference a few days make. This time last week it was balmy and spring had definitely set in. Then mother nature threw us a curve about the time baseball season opened. Now we are setting record lows and about to freeze our patoots off. A lot of the planned ondeck work has been postponed until the weather gives us another break. Now we, figuratively speaking, are concentrating on more inside work. It's still cold but out of the wind. Our progress photos are a mix of what is going on aboard. |
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| #1) Bob Lenn is polishing a 20mm shell. This one hangs on the mount all the time to show visitors what the gun fires. Being outdoors all the time they get tarnished and Bob likes for the to shine. Keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers, he is having some health problems and we want him well again. #2) Pete and grandson Clayton made a new mount for this barometer and clock and mounted them in the chart room. The navigator will now have them handy. #3) The Jack staff had to be lowered so Ed could replace the bulb in the navigational light. You will note later that Ed became slightly confused as to where the new bulb was to be placed. With Rays help he finally figured it out. |
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| #4) After much labor the rollers are now freer than they have been in a very long time. After Dorris worked on the port side rollers Jim has taken over on the starboard side. After freeing them up new grease fitting were installed and now they will take new grease. #5) Ken and Harry lent a hand and helped raise material from the tank deck. #6) You can see the looks on the faces of these two after being caught doing something constructive. (just joking) everyone on board is always willing to lend a hand on what needs to be done. |
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| #7) Larry has once again ruined one of his best T-shirts while playing with a needle gun. Larry has taken on the challenge of cleaning and painting some of the larger vents on the 01 level. He can't get them finished too soon to suit me. They are very close to where I'm usually working and it is very loud. And they wonder why I play Glen Miller and Benny Goodman so loud. #8) Not only is Larry a needle gun operator deluxe but give him a swab and a head and he will make it shine. #9)Pete hangs a new flag from the overhead in the tank deck. #10) That flag sure looks good hanging there and it also adds some great color to a drab area. |
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| #11) This is not where the bulb goes Ed. That ear is probably a left hand thread anyway.
#12) After the bulb was replaced in the right socket Ray and Ed did the finishing touches and repairing the fire control tub.
#13) As you can see Doug has the spare stern anchor cleaned and ready for paint. In fact if you look closely you can see that he has already started to prime it before I can get my picture.
#14) Here is the photo of the spare stern anchor after it has been needle gunned and painted with a coat of primer. Doug said that he thought a nice yellow would be nice for the anchor but I think he met with some opposition at that point. We'll have to wait and see how it comes out. If anyone has any thoughts or opinions on the color we would be glad to hear them. Maybe a not on the discussion page.
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| #15) Since the last cruise the spare stern anchor has been slightly out of position. Here Ray and Doug use a strap and come-a-long to ease it back into position. #16) Doug can be seen once more with brush in hand making the fantail shine. It's hard to believe the transformation that has taken place back there. And he's not finished yet. #17) You may be getting tired of seeing shining brass but I think it's beautiful and Ed has the ability to take an old piece of brass and bring it back to life. We'll see a couple of examples here. The first is one of the navigational lights..... |
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| #18).....and the second is the General Alarm switch in the pilot house. They have once again become things of beauty. Nice job Ed. #19) Ray and Ken replace one of the covers on a tank deck vent. As you can see it's always easy to find help for a job aboard 325. #20) After the weather turned on us its nice to have a job that can be done in the shop. Here Ray repairs a rotary chipping tool that gets a lot of use. It's had to believe that these tools hold up as well as they do. |
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| #21) Pete is seen here needle gunning the base of the forward fire control tub. As much needle gunning and grinding as goes on aboard I'm surprised the one air compressors hasn't given up the ghost. It must be a pretty good one. | ||
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| Progress Report Update Posted April 1, 2007 |
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| #1 Bob Allan is one of our newest volunteers. We got him started out right with a needle gun. He did promise to come back though. #2 As you may recall, Bing started needle gunning the rollers on each side of the ship in our last report. One problem was that the rollers were frozen from lack of use in the last many decades. Here Dorris is using a lifting sling and a come-a-long as a strap wrench to apply pressure and then by means of a cheater bar is able to break the rollers loose. Now Bing can go all the way around them. #3 The rollers will now be cleaned and painted. They were a little unsightly. |
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| #4 With the near completion of the work on the strb crews head the Greek commodes will no longer be needed. The ships Commode Jockeys are seen here moving them to a permanent storage area. #5 Gene and Pete are setting the new commodes in the above mentioned head. It's been a long project but it is nearing completion. #6 The area on the fantail is really taking on a new look. This area was something of a junk collection area until Doug got his teeth into it. Here he needle guns the stern wench cable haws pipe. |
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#7 Now you can see what I mean by this area taking on a new look. This is the finished product. It's an area that we can all be proud of. Well Done!
#8 Not really an item of progress but interesting none the less. Ed refurbished this foot locker in the style of LST 325. Looks nice Ed. #9 Dorris can be seen here doing what he does so well, fitting a new deck plate to be welded in. |
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| #10 Matt and Brandon are two fine young men who volunteer their Saturdays to work on the ship. Here they are seen with a mannequin they have fitted with a set of dress blues from the ships artifact supply. These young guys have a great attitude and are more than willing to work hard. They are a pleasure to be around. #11 Another item on the fantail is the spare stern anchor that is stored there. It was looking rather ratty so Doug has taken on the job of needle gunning it and preparing it for paint. More later. #12 Ed has the great ability to take old brass and make it look new. Here he and Doug reassemble the stern lights. They were coated with much gray paint but now they have been restored to their past glory. |
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| #13 Jim Kleiman receives his eighty hour badge from Ray and Pete. Jim is a great help to our ships electricians. #14 Even though the ship is in a three degree list to keep rain water off the deck some will still puddle up. Here Larry and Ken sweep some of the puddles over the side. #15 Here one of our pelican hook has been cleaned up. On the left is the way it looked after needle gunning and on the right after a fresh coat of paint. |
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| #16 Larry stripes paint of an air vent one deck above my office. I felt like I was working inside a snare drum while he was working. #17 Roy is stripping the crud off one of the hand cranks used on the davits. They are now like new with a nice coat of red paint. #18 Another one of Roy's projects was the cleaning of one of the spud lockers. It's looking much better. |
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| #19 Sam leads a group of eighth graders from Lexington Ky. The group consisted of 161 students and adults. Many of our tour guides stayed late or came in extra to help out. The students had earned the trip to St. Louis and the LST by having good attendance and good grades. |  |
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| Progress Report Update Posted Nov 14 |
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| LST 325 Toured By Visitors From All 50 States!
In the one year the LST 325 has called Evansville, Indiana its home port, visitors from all 50 states have toured the ship! |
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| A special thanks to Chris Black of Arizona for taking the time to prepare this map. Each visitor who tours the ship is asked for their zip code when purchasing tickets. The zip codes are entered into the cash register during the ticket sale. The information from the collection of zip codes is then carefully analyzed. To view a larger image, click on the map.
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