USS LST-325
International call sign: November-Whiskey-Victor-Charlie
USS LST-325, a 2366-ton LST-1 class tank landing ship, was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. Commissioned in February 1943, she crossed the Atlantic a month later as part of the first convoy of U.S. Navy LSTs to reach the European war zone. LST-325 took part in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the Salerno landings in September. In November, she moved to English waters, where she engaged in invasion rehersals into the following spring. In June 1944, LST-325 was one of the huge fleet that supported the Normandy invasion. She also participated in other operations along the northern coasts of France.
In March 1945, LST-325 crossed the Atlantic from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to the U.S. Overhauled at New Orleans, she was fitted with Brodie gear for launching and recovering light observation airplanes. She briefly exercised with that equipment in August 1945, just before Japan's surrender ended World War II. After a trip to Panama in September-October, she went to Green Cove Springs, Florida, for inactivation and was decommissioned there in July 1946.
LST-325 was brought back into service in about 1951 to take part in the Military Sea Transportation Service's arctic operations. She later received a reinforced bow to better suit her for work in icy waters. LST-325 was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in September 1961 and turned over to the Maritime Administration for inclusion in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Returned to the Navy in September 1963, she was modernized for further use under the Military Assistance Program. The ship was transferred to Greece in May 1964. Renamed Syros, she served in the Hellenic Navy until the late 1990s and was acquired by an American LST memorial organization in 2000.
