Historic warship heading for Vicksburg

VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — A restored World War II amphibious warship will make Vicksburg one of its stops on a cruise down the Mississippi River — the second visit to the city for the historic vessel.

The LST 325 is expected to arrive Friday after leaving Missouri on Monday. The ship last visited the city in 2003, The Vicksburg Post reports (http://bit.ly/2d0gF4i).

While in Vicksburg, visitors to the ship will be allowed to go on board and tour the vessel and look at its artifacts from other LSTs that participated in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

LST stands for landing ship tank; a class of 328-foot long, 50-foot wide flat-bottomed ships, capable of running aground and discharging 600 troops or military vehicles like trucks, jeeps and tanks to roll directly out on a beach.

According to The Post, the LST 325 was commissioned Feb. 1, 1943 as part of the Northern Attack Force in support of the invasion at Salerno, Italy, carrying elements of the 40th Royal Tank Regiment. It later was part of Force "B," the backup force for the troops going ashore at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

The ship was transferred to Greece in May 1964 and was renamed Syros. It served in the Greek Navy until December 1999 when it was decommissioned.

In 2000, LST 325 was acquired by The USS LST Ship Memorial Inc., the group that worked to restore it.