HMS LST 3002

History
United Kingdom
Name:	LST 3002
Builder:	Swan Hunter
Commissioned:	August 1945
Decommissioned:	November 1946
Fate:	Sold to the Greek Navy, April 1947
History
Greece
Name:	Aliakmon (L104)
Acquired:	April 1947
Fate:	Sold into merchant service
General characteristics
Type:	Landing Ship, Tank

HMS LST 3002 was one of the first of her class of tank landing ship (LST). She had a short but interesting career which demonstrated the robustness of the design and construction of her class of ship.

She was built at Swan Hunter's yard on the Tyne and commissioned in August 1945 after acceptance trials. She sailed from the Tyne through the Pentland Firth to the Gareloch, encountering and sinking a floating contact mine on the way. She took aboard stores at Roseneath and worked up off the Clyde during September. She sailed for the Far East independently.

She left Suez at 0600 on 9 December. After passing through the Suez Canal into the Gulf of Suez with a cargo of Scammel tank transporters, she was rammed in calm conditions at 0028 on 10 December, by the Victory ship, Poland Victory (VC2-S-AP3), 120 miles (190 km) south of Suez. She was struck just about midships causing a hole about 44 ft (13 m) wide on the upper deck and 32 ft (9.8 m) wide at the keel and cutting the LST almost in two, leaving just about 10 ft (3.0 m) to hold her together. One of the ship's boats was damaged in the collision and the other seemed reluctant to yield to gravity. The crew of the LST abandoned ship, being taken aboard Poland Victory by rope ladder while she held position embedded in the LST. One crew member lost his life in the accident. He was Able Seaman Keith Larcombe and is buried in the Suez War Memorial Cemetery.

LST 3002 was still afloat next morning and a skeleton crew re-boarded her. The rest of the crew were carried off by Poland Victory. The Algerine-class minesweeper HMS Maenad attended until the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships Prince Salvor and Salvage Duke took the LST in tow slowly back to Port Taufiq (or Tewfik) arriving there of the afternoon of 12 December. There, she was dry docked in the small shipyard for temporary repairs, the skeleton crew remaining on board.

Repairs included fitting great strongback girders straddling the hole and plating over the gap. Now seaworthy again, but still showing signs of injury, in July 1946 she sailed to Dockyard Creek, Valletta Harbour, Malta to complete the repairs in dry dock. Repairs completed in September 1946, she returned home, calling in at Gibraltar on the way, paying off pennant flying boldly. She was decommissioned at Roseneath in November 1946. In April 1947, she was sold to the Greek Navy to become RHS Aliakmon (L104). In 1947 she was sold to I Sariktzis of Piraeus, Greece.

This incident put the reputation of the LST (Large Slow Target) to be virtually unsinkable to a severe test. Much of the shock of the collision was taken by the tank transporters without which this LST would have been cut in two. Remarkably, the two parts of the partially severed vessel sailed comfortably together, thanks no doubt to the excellence of the design and construction, but also to the skill with which she had been ballasted.

External links

• Model of LST 3002

LST (3)-class tank landing ships
Completed LST 3001 LST 3002 LST 3003 / Anzio LST 3004 LST 3006 / Tromso LST 3007 LST 3008 LST 3009 LST 3010 / Attacker / Empire Cymric LST 3011 / Avenger LST 3012 / LST(Q) 1 / Ben Nevis LST 3013 / LST(Q) 2 / Ben Lomond LST 3014 LST 3015 / Battler LST 3016 / Dieppe LST 3017 LST 3018 LST 3019 / Vaagso LST 3020 LST 3021 LST 3022 LST 3023 LST 3024 LST 3025 / Bruiser LST 3026 / Charger LST 3027 / Lofoten LST 3028 LST 3029 / Chaser LST 3030 LST 3031 LST 3032 LST 3033 LST 3035 LST 3036 / Puncher LST 3037 LST 3038 / Fighter LST 3039 LST 3041 LST 3042 / Hunter LST 3043 / LST(C) 3043 / Messina LST 3044 / LST(C) 3044 / Narvik LST 3501 LST 3502 LST 3503 LST 3504 / Pursuer LST 3505 / Ravager LST 3506 LST 3507 LST 3508 / Searcher LST 3509 LST 3510 / Slinger LST 3511 / Reggio LST 3512 / Empire Celtic LST 3513 / Salerno LST 3514 / Smiter LST 3515 / Stalker LST 3516 / Striker LST 3517 / St Nazaire LST 3518 / Suvla LST 3519 / Empire Baltic LST 3520 / Thruster LST 3522 / Tracker LST 3523 / Trouncer LST 3524 / Trumpeter LST 3525 / Walcheren LST 3526 LST 3527 LST 3530 LST 3531 LST 3532 / Zeebrugge LST 3534 / Empire Cedric Scrapped or scuttled before completion LST 3005 LST 3034 LST 3040 LST 3045 LST 3521 LST 3535 LST 3536 LST 3537 Cancelled LST 3528 LST 3529 LST 3533 LST 3538 LST 3539 LST 3540 LST 3541 LST 3542 LST 3543 LST 3544 LST 3545 LST 3546 LST 3547 LST 3548 LST 3549 LST 3550 LST 3551 LST 3552 LST 3553 LST 3554 LST 3555 LST 3556 LST 3557 LST 3558 LST 3559 LST 3560 LST 3561 LST 3562 LST 3563 LST 3564 LST 3565 LST 3566 LST 3567 LST 3568 LST 3569 LST 3570 LST 3571 LST 3572 LST 3573 LST 3574
Other operators  Royal Australian Navy LST 3008 LST 3014 LST 3017 / Tarakan LST 3022 LST 3035 / Lae LST 3501 / Labuan  Hellenic Navy Achelaos (ex-LST 3503) Alfios (ex-LST 3020) Aliakmon (ex-LST 3002) Axios (ex-LST 3007) Pinios (ex-LST 3506) Strymon (ex-LST 3502)  Indian Navy Magar (ex-Avenger)  Royal Netherlands Navy LST 3010  Royal Army Service Corps Charles Macleod (ex-LST 3021) Evan Gibb (ex-LST 3037) Fredrick Glover (ex-LST 3001) Humphrey Gale (ex-LST 3509) Maxwell Brander (ex-LST 3024) Reginald Kerr (ex-LST 3009) Snowden Smith (ex-LST 3028)
Preceded by: LST (2) class Followed by: None
List of amphibious warfare ships of the Royal Navy