New Evansville Mayor Negotiating to Renew WWII Warship Home Port Deal

Evansville, Indiana’s new mayor, Lloyd Winnecke, is in negotiations with a nonprofit group in hopes to renew the contract that will keep the city as the World War II troop landing warship’s home port. The nonprofit group is the same one responsible for the LST 325. The vessel is currently moored in Ohio River city.

Evansville’s initial 10-year contract with the USS LST Ship Memorial Inc. expires in 2015. Mayor Winnecke and board president, Ken Frank, agree that it is too early to outline the issues that will inform contract negotiations.

Photo: LST-325 (left) and USS LST-388 unloading while stranded at low tide during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

Although other cities are interested in being the LST 325’s home port, Evansville has invested almost $3 million in city capital development funds to build a new municipal dock for the ship at Marina Pointe. The facility has truly impressed the board. Winnecke started preliminary meetings while he was still campaigning for mayor that laid out the ship’s needs and efforts to market it to visitors. Captain Bob Jornlin believes that the ship is currently in a high profile location in a city that loves them and cherishes civic pride, as well as a sense of history.

The next Ship Memorial board meeting is scheduled for mid-January. The National Park Service says the LST 325 is one of the few surviving American vessels that went ashore on D-Day.