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USS Buncombe County (LST-510)
Encyclopedia
USS Buncombe County (LST-510) was an built for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Named for Buncombe County, North Carolina
Buncombe County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 206,330 people, 85,776 households, and 55,668 families residing in the county. The population density was 314 people per square mile . There were 93,973 housing units at an average density of 143 per square mile...
, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
LST-510 was laid down on 27 September 1943 at Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...
by the Jeffersonville Boat and Machine Company
Jeffboat
Jeffboat is the largest inland shipbuilder in the United States, located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. It is the second-largest builder of barges...
; launched on 30 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. C. P. Watson; and placed in reduced commission on 18 January 1944. Departing her builders' yard three days later, on 21 January, LST-510 proceeded down the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
to New Orleans, where she was placed in full commission on 31 January 1944 with Lieutenant George P. Andrews in command.
Convoy to England, March–April 1944
After fitting out, LST-510 carried out an abbreviated shakedown cruise to the vicinity of Panama City, FloridaPanama City, Florida
-Personal income:The median income for a household in the city was $31,572, and the median income for a family was $40,890. Males had a median income of $30,401 versus $21,431 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,830...
, returning to New Orleans in February for post-shakedown availability. On 1 March LST-510 loaded the 150-ton tank landing craft onto her upper deck. She then headed to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where she embarked additional crewmen and took on board 600 tons of ammunition. From there, she proceeded via Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
to Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
and then left North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n waters on 29 March in a 64-ship convoy. Like most passages of the North Atlantic during World War II, this one proved hazardous and chilling, both in the physical and the psychological sense. In one three-day period, she endured fog, sleet, and a wind that drove 50 feet (15.2 m) waves over her bow. Then, there was the occasional iceberg. Yet, undoubtedly, U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s caused the greatest anxiety. They torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed four ships in the convoy, one of them just 400 yards (365.8 m) away on LST-510s port quarter. On one occasion, maneuvers to evade the unseen enemy briefly threw the convoy into disorder in dense fog. To make matters worse, LST-510s engines broke down. All on board shared the certain fear that a torpedo would soon set off her explosive cargo until successful repairs allowed her to resume her harried voyage. LST-510 reached Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
safely on 13 April.
Invasion of Normandy, June 1944
From there, LST-510 crossed the Irish SeaIrish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
and stopped briefly at Milford Haven
Milford Haven
Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
before proceeding on to Plymouth, England where she delivered LCT-709. During May, 1944 LST-510 outfitted at Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
and Fowey
Fowey
Fowey is a small town, civil parish and cargo port at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,273.-Early history:...
for her next mission while "scuttlebutt
Scuttlebutt
Scuttlebutt in slang usage means rumor or gossip, deriving from the nautical term for the cask used to serve water . Retrieved 2008-03-16...
" over the nature of that assignment flew furiously. Orders to load vehicles only heightened the excitement and accelerated the pace of work. Then, on 1 June 1944, LST-510 embarked 200 men and 70 vehicles of the 29th Infantry Division, and the ship backed out into the bay and anchored. From that moment on, no one was allowed off the ship. At 0337 on 4 June, LST-510 weighed anchor and got underway, bound for the coast of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, but put about to return to Plymouth when foul weather compelled postponement. Finally, at 0355 on 5 June, LST-510 again shaped a course for France. By daybreak, LST-510 had formed up with Convoy B 1 of the 4,000-vessel Western Task Force. Neither LST-510 nor her embarked soldiers took part in the initial assault at Normandy. The invasion was already eight hours old when she began approaching Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...
, near Vierville
Vierville
Vierville may refer to the following communes in France:* Vierville, Eure-et-Loir* Vierville, Manche* Vierville-sur-Mer...
. She could not get all the way in to the beach itself, so LST-510 unloaded her cargo and disembarked her men via LCTs and "Rhino" pontoon
Pontoon (boat)
A pontoon is a flotation device with buoyancy sufficient to float itself as well as a heavy load. A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on pontoons to float. Pontoons may be used on boats, rafts, barges, docks, floatplanes or seaplanes. Pontoons may support a platform, creating a raft. A...
barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s. That night, LST-510 endured her first air raid, but her only loss proved to be sleep. The raids continued sporadically throughout the night. Even before all of LST-510s cargo had been unloaded, she began embarking wounded men for treatment. The three doctors on board performed their work in a "magnificent" manner, "in the face of existing conditions," laboring throughout the night on the ship's tank deck where an operating room had been set up.
Channel operations, June 1944–June 1945
In the next three months, LST-510 shuttled between the Isle of PortlandIsle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...
and Weymouth, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and Utah
Utah Beach
Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944...
or Omaha Beach, transporting troops and vehicles eastward and casualties westward across the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. Late in late September, on her 21st passage across the channel, LST-510 beached over a hollow on the bottom which produced abnormal stresses on her hull, throwing her starboard shaft out of alignment. Forced to return to England on one engine, the tank landing ship was drydocked for repairs at Plymouth for a month. LST-510 spent the first half of November, 1944 at anchor off Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
with a low-priority cargo waiting word to move inshore. Following two voyages to Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, the ship was proceeding to Cherbourg when she hit an underwater obstruction which holed her hull, flooding both engine rooms and plunging the ship into darkness. The next day, in tow of another LST, the ship headed back to Portland for temporary repairs, and to Falmouth for another month of drydocking and engine repairs. Even after that, bad luck continued to dog LST-510. On 5 February 1945 while returning from Le Havre in a dense fog, she collided bow-to-bow with SS Chapel Hill Victory south of the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, demolishing her own bow as far aft as frame 10. The pea-soup fog had nullified the efforts of her bow lookouts who had but a few seconds warning as the "Victory ship
Victory ship
The Victory ship was a type of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace shipping losses caused by German submarines...
" loomed out of the murk. One of LST-510s bow lookouts died in the mishap. Drydocked at Falmouth until mid-May, LST-510 finally left Plymouth for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on 7 June 1945.
Return to the US, June 1945
After touching at NorfolkNorfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, the tank landing ship proceeded via New Orleans to Galveston, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
where she prepared for Pacific service. However, Japan's capitulation in August 1945 cancelled plans for her journey to the Pacific. Instead, LST-510 reported to Green Cove Springs, Florida
Green Cove Springs, Florida
Green Cove Springs is a city in Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,908. It is the county seat of Clay County....
where she was placed out of commission on 1 July 1946.
LST-510 received one battle star for her World War II service.
Decommissioning and sale
Inactive for over a decade, she was named USS Buncombe County (LST-510) on 1 July 1955. Deemed "unfit for further Naval service" on 27 October 1958, her name was struck from the Naval Vessel RegisterNaval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 1 November 1958.
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
and renamed MV Virginia Beach. Resold in 1964 or 1965 to the Delaware River and Bay Authority
Delaware River and Bay Authority
The Delaware River and Bay Authority or DRBA is a bi-state government agency of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Delaware established by interstate compact in 1961....
, she was renamed MV Cape Henlopen and converted to a passenger and auto ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
in 1966, operating between Lewes, Delaware
Lewes, Delaware
Lewes is an incorporated city in Sussex County, Delaware, USA, on the Delmarva Peninsula. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747, a decrease of 6.3% from 2000....
and Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May is a city at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States...
. Purchased in 1983 by Cross Sound Ferry Services, Inc. of New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, she continued in Cape May-Lewes Ferry
Cape May-Lewes Ferry
The Cape May – Lewes Ferry is a ferry system that traverses a 17-mile crossing of the Delaware Bay to connect Cape May, New Jersey with Lewes, Delaware. The ferry doubles as a section of U.S. Route 9.-The system:...
service. She was purchased in 1983 by Cross Sound Ferry Services Inc. and underwent a total refurbishment before entering service between Orient Point, New York (Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
) and New London, perhaps making it the only D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
veteran ship to still be in active service (map). The ferry was repowered during the winter of 1995 with EMD 12-645
EMD 645
The EMD 645 family of diesel engines was designed and manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. Intended primarily for locomotive, marine and stationary engine use, one 16-cylinder version powered the 33-19 "Titan" prototype haul truck designed by GM's Terex...
diesel engines.