For fifteen years, LST 325 has moored at Marina Point and entertained thousands of visitors.
But even before the Tropicana casino boat sailed away two years ago, negotiations had been under way to move the historic floating museum to the Evansville riverfront.
While this particular ship was built in Philadelphia, hundreds of her sisters were constructed in the “cornfield shipyard” at Evansville during World War II
LST 325 is the last operational ship of its type in the world.
Bringing the ship to its new mooring across the road from the Tropicana land-based casino is expected to increase traffic on board many-fold.
To that end, crew members slipped the mooring lines from the bollards at Marina Point for the last time a bit after 10am Saturday morning, and the ship sailed down-river past the downtown Evansville skyline (pictured) and made a turn (or “came about,” as the Navy says) to allow the ship to point her bow up-river.
She made the short trek on only one of her two engines. The port engine had water atop one of the pistons at start Saturday morning so that engine could not be used.
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