For now, LST 325 stuck near Kuttawa, Ky.

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October 3, 2012

For now, LST 325 stuck near Kuttawa, Ky.

Jeffersonville has made a pitch to move ship here

B y JOHN MARTIN Evansville Courier & Press The News and Tribune Wed Oct 03, 2012, 08:04 PM EDT

The LST 325 with 42 crew members aboard ran aground Monday in Lake Barkley near Kuttawa, Ky., while returning from a voyage to two Tennessee cities.

Coast Guard Lt. Dan McQuate said the ship traveled outside the channel and got stuck about nine miles above Lake Barkley Lock and Dam.

McQuate said there have been no reports of damage to the ship, which carried soldiers and vehicles to Omaha Beach during the June 6, 1944, Allied invasion at Normandy in northwestern France.

The U.S. Coast Guard was assisting the LST crew Tuesday in efforts to free the vessel so it could return to Evansville.

“They might be able to get out by putting a bunch of tug boats on it and pulling it, but if that’s going to damage the vessel or rip open fuel tanks, we don’t want them to do that,” McQuate said.

LST board member Chris Donahue said Tuesday tugs were being used in an effort to free the stranded ship.

“The ship is 1,700 tons and as long as a football field. So it takes a little work,” he said.

Robert Jornlin, captain of the LST, was busy when reached on his cellphone Tuesday.

“We’re attempting to get out of here, so I can’t talk to you,” Jornlin said.

The LST has been away from its home port at Evansville for more than two weeks on visits to Nashville and Clarksville, Tenn. Donahue said the vessel drew about 14,000 visitors at each location.

Donahue said the channel where the LST ran aground is narrower than that of the Ohio River, so there’s “less room for error” for river pilots steering the ship.

Given the misty, rainy weather, pilots also might have had visibility problems, Donahue said.

Had the LST’s journey remained on schedule, it would have returned to Evansville Monday or Tuesday.

The city of Jeffersonville is making and effort to bring the LST to its riverfront permanently.

— This article contains material from The Associated Press.