WHEELING - The USS LST-325 extended its stay in the area by about an hour Tuesday, as a minor oil leak delayed the ship's departure from the Pike Island Locks and Dam.
The incident was a minor blip on the radar screen for a seaworthy old vessel that has survived the horrors of Omaha Beach on D-Day, attacks from Nazi bombers and the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II.
The ship's captain, Robert Jornlin, said no oil was released into the lock or the Ohio River, and the spill was contained to the LST-325's main deck.
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(Photo by Scott McCloskey)
Departing from Wheeling’s Heritage Port, the LST-325 travels under the downtown bridges Tuesday afternoon.
Around 1 p.m., the Wheeling Fire Department was dispatched to assist with a "river incident" at the locks and dam involving the ship, which had left Heritage Port at noon after a six-day stop in the Friendly City. At least three engines and a fire investigator responded to the scene.
No one was injured and no apparent damage was done to the ship, which continued its journey upriver to Pittsburgh later that afternoon.
The cleanup effort took about an hour, and Jornlin said the amount of oil lost was minimal - perhaps only a gallon or two.
Jornlin said on a ship like the LST-325, there are a lot of valves and "somewhere along the line, one got left open," causing the oil to leak onto the main deck. He said the problem was discovered "practically instantly."
The ship is equipped with absorbent materials to combat spills, he noted. Also, a 2.5- to 3-inch lip around the deck prevents potentially harmful substances like oil from spilling into the water.
From the lock and dam's observation deck on the West Virginia shore, onlookers watched as crew members swept the deck and disposed of the oil under the supervision of firefighters and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers members. Jornlin said the effort went smoothly.
"(It) looks better than it did before the oil went out," he remarked.
After cleaning up, the floating museum's 45-man crew donned life jackets and joined Pike Island staff for a lunch of picnic-style foods and a tour of the facility.
Jornlin said the ship's stay in Wheeling was an enjoyable one, with large and enthusiastic crowds coming out to tour the LST-325 each day.
"It's been tremendous," he said. "We've been really pleased with all the cooperation of the city."
He also thanked the local news media for getting the word out about the ship's visit.
Jornlin said the hour delay won't prevent the LST-325 from reaching its next scheduled destination on time.
It is expected to dock in Pittsburgh this morning, and will be open for tours Thursday through Monday.
On Tuesday, the ship will make three river cruises at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon before leaving for Marietta, Ohio, where it will be open for tours Sept. 10-14.
It will leave Marietta the following day and arrive back at its home base of Evansville, Ind., on Sept. 18.
According to its website, The LST-325 is one of only two such tank landing ships to be preserved in the United States.
It was commissioned on Feb. 1, 1943, and participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July of that year, transporting two loads of Italian prisoners.
The ship survived multiple attacks from enemy bombers during World War II, and participated in the June 6, 1944, invasion of Normandy, France, known as "D-Day."
Later that year, it rescued more than 700 men from a troop transport ship torpedoed off the French coast.
The LST-325 returned to U.S. territory on May 31, 1945 after an eventful transatlantic crossing from Belfast, Ireland. One day out, the ship hit an enormous wave, putting a sizeable crack in its main deck, and was saved by welding steel plates across the damaged areas.
The U.S. sent the ship to Greece to serve in the Hellenic Navy in 1964. Decades later, in 2000, a group of retired American military men acquired the ship, made all necessary repairs and brought it home to serve as a floating memorial. Evansville, Ind., officially became its home port on Oct. 1, 2005, in honor of that city's status as the largest producer of LST-class ships in the country during World War II. More than 200 ships were built there during the war, including 167 LSTs.