USS ''Buncombe County'' (LST-510) was an built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Named for

Buncombe County, North Carolina Buncombe County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is classified within Western North Carolina. The 2020 census reported the population was 269,452. Its county seat is Asheville. Buncombe County is part of the Asheville ...

, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. She currently serves as a ferry between

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...

, and Orient, Long Island.

Construction

''LST-510'' was laid down on 27 September 1943 at Jeffersonville, Indiana by the Jeffersonville Boat and Machine Company; launched on 30 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. C. P. Watson; and placed in reduced commission on 18 January 1944. Departing her builders' yard three days later, on 21 January, ''LST-510'' proceeded down the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, where she was placed in full commission on 31 January 1944.

Service history

Convoy to the United Kingdom, April 1944

After fitting out, ''LST-510'' carried out an abbreviated shakedown cruise to the vicinity of

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee and Pensacola. It is the more populated city of the Panama City–Lynn ...

, returning to New Orleans in February for post-shakedown availability. On 1 March ''LST-510'' loaded the 150-ton

tank landing craft The Landing Craft, Tank (LCT) (or Tank Landing Craft TLC) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of ver ...

onto her upper deck. She then headed to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where she embarked additional crewmen and took on board 600 tons of ammunition. From there, she proceeded via

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

and then left North American waters on 29 March in a 64-ship convoy. Like most passages of the North Atlantic during World War II, this one proved hazardous and chilling, both in the physical and the psychological sense. In one three-day period, she endured fog, sleet, and a wind that drove waves over her bow, and the occasional iceberg.

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

s caused the most concern for the convoy,

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

ing four ships in the convoy, one of them just away on ''LST-510''s port quarter. On one occasion, maneuvers to evade the unseen enemy briefly threw the convoy into disorder in dense fog. To make matters worse, ''LST-510''s engines broke down. All on board shared the certain fear that a torpedo would soon set off her explosive cargo until successful repairs allowed her to resume her harried voyage. ''LST-510'' reached Derry,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

safely on 13 April.

Invasion of Normandy, June 1944

From there, ''LST-510'' crossed the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

and stopped briefly at Milford Haven,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

before proceeding on to

Plymouth, England Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth' ...

where she delivered ''LCT-709''. During May, 1944 ''LST-510'' outfitted at Falmouth and Fowey for her next mission while "

scuttlebutt Scuttlebutt in slang usage means rumor or gossip, deriving from the nautical term for the cask used to serve water (or, later, a water fountain).29th Infantry Division, and the ship backed out into the bay and anchored. From that moment on, no one was allowed off the ship. At 0337 on 4 June, ''LST-510'' weighed anchor and got underway, bound for the coast of France, but put about to return to Plymouth when foul weather compelled postponement. Finally, at 0355 on 5 June, ''LST-510'' again shaped a course for France. By daybreak, ''LST-510'' had formed up with Convoy B 1 of the 4,000-vessel Western Task Force. Neither ''LST-510'' nor her embarked soldiers took part in the initial assault at Normandy. The invasion was already eight hours old when she began approaching Omaha Beach, near Vierville. She could not get all the way in to the beach itself, so ''LST-510'' unloaded her cargo and disembarked her men via LCTs and "Rhino" pontoon

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s. That night, ''LST-510'' endured her first air raid, but her only loss proved to be sleep. The raids continued sporadically throughout the night. Even before all of ''LST-510''s cargo had been unloaded, she began embarking wounded men for treatment. The three doctors on board performed their work in a "magnificent" manner, "in the face of existing conditions," laboring throughout the night on the ship's tank deck where an operating room had been set up.

Channel operations, June 1944–June 1945

In the next three months, ''LST-510'' shuttled between the

Isle of Portland An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct fr ...

and Weymouth, England, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

or Omaha Beach, transporting troops and vehicles eastward and casualties westward across the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. In late September, on her 21st passage across the channel, ''LST-510'' beached over a hollow on the bottom which produced abnormal stresses on her hull, throwing her starboard shaft out of alignment. Forced to return to England on one engine, the tank landing ship was

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

ed for repairs at Plymouth for a month. ''LST-510'' spent the first half of November, 1944 at anchor off

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

with a low-priority cargo waiting word to move inshore. Following two voyages to Rouen, the ship was proceeding to Cherbourg when she hit an underwater obstruction which holed her hull, flooding both engine rooms and plunging the ship into darkness. The next day, in tow of another LST, the ship headed back to Portland for temporary repairs, and to Falmouth for another month of drydocking and engine repairs. Even after that, bad luck continued to dog ''LST-510''. On 5 February 1945 while returning from Le Havre in a dense fog, she collided bow-to-bow with SS ''Chapel Hill Victory'' south of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

, demolishing her own bow as far aft as frame 10. The pea-soup fog had nullified the efforts of her bow lookouts who had but a few seconds warning as the "

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were sli ...

" loomed out of the murk. One of ''LST-510''s bow lookouts died in the mishap. Drydocked at Falmouth until mid-May, ''LST-510'' finally left Plymouth for the United States on 7 June 1945. USS-LST-510

Return to the US, June 1945

After touching at Norfolk, Virginia, the tank landing ship proceeded via New Orleans to Galveston, Texas where she prepared for

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

service. However, Japan's capitulation in August 1945 cancelled plans for her journey to the Pacific. Instead, ''LST-510'' reported to

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,908. The city is named after the portio ...

where she was placed out of commission on 1 July 1946. ''LST-510'' received one

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

for her World War II service.

Decommissioning and sale

Inactive for over a decade, she was named USS ''Buncombe County'' (LST-510) on 1 July 1955. Deemed "unfit for further Naval service" on 27 October 1958, her name was struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 1 November 1958. In 1960, the ship was sold to the Chesapeake Bay Ferry District of Norfolk, Virginia and renamed MV ''Virginia Beach''. Resold in 1964 or 1965 to the

Delaware River and Bay Authority The Delaware River and Bay Authority or DRBA is a bi-state government agency of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Delaware established by an interstate compact in 1962. The authority operates the Delaware Memorial twin suspension bridges, t ...

, she was renamed MV ''Cape Henlopen'' and converted to a passenger and auto ferry in 1966, operating between

Lewes, Delaware Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...

and

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...

. Purchased in 1983 by Cross Sound Ferry Services, Inc. of

, she underwent a total refurbishment before entering service between

Orient Point, New York Orient is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, United States. The CDP's population was 743 at the 2010 census. ''Orient'' and ''Orient Point'' are used almost interchangeably. However, Orient Point ...

( Long Island) and New London, perhaps making it the only D-Day veteran ship to still be in active service
map
. The ferry was repowered during the winter of 1995 with EMD 12-645 diesel engines. In 2019, the ship underwent a major overhaul, renovating the ships' passenger accommodations and adding a new lounge, honoring the history and service of the ship in World War II. MV ''Cape Henlopen'' is one of the oldest operating ferries in the world and one of the few ships who served in World War II still in active service.

Awards

USS ''LST-510'' received the following awards for its service in World War II - *

American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had perfo ...

* European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one

World War II Victory Medal The World War II Victory Medal is a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945. The Wo ...

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:LST-0510 LST-491-class tank landing ships World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States Buncombe County, North Carolina Ships built in Jeffersonville, Indiana 1943 ships Ferries of New York (state) Ferries of Connecticut