SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS SPUN YARN Despite the concerted efforts of at least three non-profit groups over the past few years, "The Iron Woman," USS Cabot (CVL 28), was broken up for scrap in Brownsvi lle, Texas. Launched in 1942 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in New Jersey, Cabot fought her way
"The Iron Woman " awaiting her fate at the shipbreakers in Brownsville TX (USS Cabot (CVL 28) Association/Richard Angelini) th rough sixteen months of combat. For this she was named "the Iron Woman of rhe Pacific" by correspondent Ernie Pyle. Some parts are being salvaged for use on other historic naval ships. ... The USS Missouri Memorial Association received a 2000 National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in recognition of the organization's exemplary work caring for rhe battleship. In July, the Association also received a $300,000 grant as parrof the Save America's Treasures program. (USSMMA, PO Box 6339, H o nolul u HI 96818; web sire: www.ussmissouri.com) . .. T he HamptonRoadsNavalMuseum, in preparation for the April arrival of the 1943 battleship Wisconsin (BB 64), now in reserve status, is planning a new permanent exhibit on the history of the warship, including her design and co nstruction, her World War II operations, her reactivation during the Korean co nflict, and her most recent service. Only the main deck of Wisconsin will be open to the public as the ship could theoretically be called back to active duty. (HRNM, One Waterside Drive, Suite 248, NorfolkVA23510-1607; 757 322-2987; fax: 757 445- 1867; e-mail: gbcalhoun @nsn.cmar. navy. mil; web site: www.hrnm .navy.mil) ... The fo llowing ships of the Historic Naval Ships Association are avail32
LST 325 Comes Home, Half a Century After a Very Important Trip Abroad Commissioned in February 1943, LST 325 arrived back in the US in Mobile, Alabama, on 10 Jan uary, after a 4,400-mile voyage home from Crete, where she had been serving in rhe Greek Navy. At age 58 she had long outlived her allotted span, bur was still a good deal yo unger than her crew, whose average age was 72.5 years. These vol unteers each paid $2,000 for the trip to help finance the long voyage home. The timeworn ship, veteran of the Allied landings in Sicily, Iraly and France which led to the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe in Wo rld War II, needed all rhe help she could get-and she got it, from individuals as well as corporations like British Petroleum, which donated the fuel for the transAtlantic voyage. H er condition was judged unsatisfactory for the Atlantic crossing by the US Coast Guard when the ship pulled into Gibraltar after traveling the length of the Mediterranean from Crete. But Milan Gunjak, presi- Photo ofLST325 taken during a US Navy dent of the US LST Association, responded fly-by in November. ( US Navy) to that by fixing what problems could be fixed. "Ir's full speed ahead ," he said as the ship left Gibraltar on 12 December for her return to the US. You can read the log of the voyage at www.palosverdes.com/lsr887/ lsr325 .hrml. Home at last, LST 325 will serve as a memorial to the crews of these ungainly, flarborromed transports which, designed to carry US troops ashore to crack the gates of Hider's Fortress Europe and liberate the far-flung conquests of the Japanese Empire in the Pacific, did what they were built to do , manned by yo ung Americans who had what it rook to cross wide oceans to land on hostile shores. (LST Ship Memorial, 6075 Darramoor Road, Bloomfield MI 4830 1; 248 626-7732; e-mail: hiol 67@aol.com) The Annual Meeting of the US LST Association will be held in September in Mobile this year. (US LST Association, PO Box 167438, Oregon OH 436 16-7438; 419 6930725; fax: 4 19-693-1265; e-mail: uslsr@kmbs.com) able for overnight encampments: battle- and web sites at their web site: www.hnsa.org. ship USS Alabama, Mobile AL; submarine (HNSA, c/o US Naval Academy Museum, USS Blueback, Portland OR; railroad car 118 Maryland Aven ue, Annapolis MD ferry SS City of Milwaukee, Beulah Ml; 21402-5034) ... The US Naval Museum subm arine USS Cobia, Manitowoc WI; of Armament and Technology, which aircraft carrier USS Hornet, Alameda CA; opened in July 2000 at the Naval Air destroyer USS Kidd, Baron Rouge LA; Warfare Center Weapons Division at C hina aircraft carrier USS Lexington, Co rpus Lake, Cali fornia, features the warfare Christi TX; cruiser USS Little Rock, Buf- center's contributions to the Navy and the falo NY; battleship USS Massachusetts, Fall history of tactical air weaponry. The result River MA; battleship USS Missouri, Ho- of a ten-year effort by employees and supnolulu HI; submarine USS Pampanito, San porters, the museum's collection ranges Francisco CA; submarine USS The opening ceremonies for the China Lake Museum Requim, Pittsburgh PA; cru iser USS featured fly-bys by VX-9 and Naval Weapons Test Salem, Quincy MA; submarine USS Squadrons. (Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Silversides and Coast Guard cutter Division Public Affairs Department) Mclane, Muskegon MI; Coast Guard cutter Taney, Baltimore MD; battleship USS Texas, LaPorte TX; ai rcraft ca rri er USS Yorktown, Mount Pleasant SC. The Historic Naval Ships Association maintains a list of addresses, phone numbers
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