Tow boat and a cruise ship and an LST in La Crosse

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The towboat Dennis Delaney came upbound and around the corner and stopped as soon as they could see the rail swing drawbridge was closed. We stayed at the Radisson for convenience of parking the car close to the Park so we had an easy walk to the LST when they opened for visitors. We didn't have a room on the river side (that costs more) but there was a view from some hall windows on the 8th floor. I knew a tow was coming by watching Marine Traffic dot com on a tablet and could time their arrival by the minute.

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The next day, alarm clock rang and then I checked marine traffic dot com to see if any interesting tows were coming in the morning, and I saw that I just missed a downbound tow. But SURPRISE, I also see the cruise ship Viking Mississippi coming up, whose schedule I never checked at all before we started our trip.

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People walking in the park must have seen this ship already earlier this summer,
they didn't seem as excited as I was to see her come in.

I've only seen her remotely on the Keokuk Iowa visitor center livecam on Lock 19.

And they docked real close to the LST 325, all by Riverside Park.

Lines are forming and it's getting busy for the LST tour

Viking and the LST

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Flag flying in a nice south breeze

We enter through the bow doors and go down through the tank deck

There's an 8-foot plastic model, showing how an LST is unloaded on a beach

The upper deck is loaded with smaller vehicles, which can ride a cable elevator platform to the lower tank deck.

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We had a special interest in seeing this museum ship
because my Father-in-Law served on an LST, the 487,
in the Pacific for the last two years of WW 2.
He was just out of high school.

He always wanted to see the LST 325 when it first became a museum ship,
but he passed away in 2003 before we had time to do anything about seeing it.

So, we did take his pictures with us during our tour so he could 'see' it.

This plastic window in the floor is all we can see of the lowest deck and engines and generators.
The sign says SEND COOKIES

The LST 325 has two GM diesels with electric starters,
but Harry's ship had (maybe Fairbanks Morse) diesels with air starters.
To travel forwards, start the diesels in forward timing.
To reverse, stop the diesels, set the timing, and start it up going the other direction.
He says it worked reliably every time. No clutch, no transmission.

builders data plaque

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The jeep from the M.A.S.H tv show

The 40mm Bofor guns can be still be hand cranked and swung around
One man cranks the gun to swing left or right, the other man for up or down.
He caught heck once because after they holed a paper target pulled by a training plane,
he cranked even faster and shot apart the tow cable, quite close to the plane.

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signal flags overhead

wheelhouse

Looking forward at the upper (main) deck

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This web host is on a train related server,
I need to put some train pictures on this page.

From Riverside Park, you can see the drawbridges of the old Milwaukee Road, now Canadian Pacific.

The east draw over the Black River, with an enhanced view provided by the height of the LST officer deck

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