LST 309

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship
Keel Laid September 22 1942 - Launched November 23 1942


1. USS LST-309
Commissioned January 11 1943 - Decommissioned June 19 1946
Struck from Naval Register June 23 1947


2. ST-26 (Commercial Service)
Sold June 1 1948 to Humble Oil and Refining Co. Houston, TX
Converted to a non-self-propelled tender moored to an oil platform


3. ILE DE L'EUROPE (Commercial Service)
Sold to Foramer S.A., a French oil-drilling company, possibly in 1972, and renamed
Record first appears in Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1977 (1976-77) and continues into at least the early 1990s
IMO 7431076

Fate unknown

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. Covers Page 1     (1944)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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Post office established April 15 1943 - Disestablished (date unknown)

 

Locy Type 2z

1944-02-18

Censored wartime (WWII) use

 

Locy Type 3z (TBT)

1944-04-05

Note:

 

Other Information

LST-309 earned three battle stars for World War II service
* Sicilian occupation
July 9-15 1943
* Salerno landings
September 9-21 1943
* Invasion of Normandy
June 6-25 1944

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal (4) - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Liberation Medal

 

Additional history

From: History of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in Southern Louisiana, Vol 1, Page 122:
"...Humble invested millions of dollars in buying surplus LSTs and converting them for use as tenders."

From The Humble Way, July-August 1948, Vol 4, Iss 2 Pages 6-9:
"These ships - Navy LSTs...are being converted....and moored securely at Humble's drilling platforms off Grand Isle, Louisiana, they serve as floating warehouses and crew quarters and provide some of the rig services necessary to drill a well."
"In all, Humble has bought 19 from war-surplus."
"Six huge winches are placed on the top deck, two at the ship's bow and four at the stern, to handle the important job of mooring the ship securely at the drilling platform."
"...a Humble ST (which, plus the ship's number, is the official designation for each converted vessel)..."
"The ships are not self-propelled, but are moved down the Mississippi River and out to their locations in the Gulf by tug."
"A large stand-by vessel - either a former NAVY LCI or Coast Guard cutter - is always near to take men off the platform and off the Humble ST in case of emergency."
"conversion...of former Navy LST...is expensive, takes several months for each ship."

 

 

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