| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | LST 3002 |
| Builder | Swan Hunter |
| Commissioned | August 1945 |
| Decommissioned | November 1946 |
| Fate | Sold to the Greek Navy, April 1947 |
| History | |
 Greece | |
| Name | Aliakmon (L104) |
| Acquired | April 1947 |
| Fate | Sold 1971 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Landing Ship, Tank |
HMSLST 3002 was one of the first ofher class oftank landing ship (LST). She had a short but interesting career which demonstrated the robustness of the design and construction of her class of ship.
She was built atSwan Hunter's yard on theTyne and commissioned in August 1945 after acceptance trials. She sailed from the Tyne through thePentland Firth to theGareloch, encountering and sinking a floatingcontact mine on the way. She took aboard stores atRoseneath and worked up off theClyde during September. She sailed for the Far East independently.
She left Suez at 0600 on 9 December. After passing through theSuez Canal into theGulf of Suez with a cargo ofScammel tank transporters, she was rammed in calm conditions at 0028 on 10 December, by theVictory ship,SS Poland Victory, about 120 miles (190 km) south of Suez. She was struck just about midships causing a hole about 44 ft (13 m) wide on the upper deck and 32 ft (9.8 m) wide at the keel and cutting the LST almost in two, leaving just about 10 ft (3.0 m) to hold her together. One of the ship's boats was damaged in the collision and the other seemed reluctant to yield to gravity. The crew of the LST abandoned ship, being taken aboardPoland Victory by rope ladder while she held position embedded in the LST. One crew member lost his life in the accident. He wasAble Seaman Keith Larcombe and is buried in the Suez War Memorial Cemetery.
LST 3002 was still afloat next morning and a skeleton crew re-boarded her. The rest of the crew were carried off byPoland Victory. TheAlgerine-class minesweeperHMSMaenad attended until theRoyal Fleet Auxiliary shipsPrince Salvor andSalvage Duke took the LST in tow slowly back toPort Taufiq (or Tewfik) arriving there of the afternoon of 12 December. There, she wasdry docked in the smallshipyard for temporary repairs, the skeleton crew remaining on board.
Repairs included fitting greatstrongback girders straddling the hole and plating over the gap. Now seaworthy again, but still showing signs of injury, in July 1946 she sailed to Dockyard Creek,Valletta Harbour,Malta to complete the repairs in dry dock. Repairs completed in September 1946, she returned home, calling in atGibraltar on the way, paying offpennant flying boldly. She was decommissioned at Roseneath in November 1946. This incident put the reputation of the LST (Large Slow Target) to be virtually unsinkable to a severe test. Much of the shock of the collision was taken by the tank transporters without which this LST would have been cut in two. Remarkably, the two parts of the partially severed vessel sailed comfortably together, thanks no doubt to the excellence of the design and construction, but also to the skill with which she had beenballasted.
In April 1947, she was sold to theGreek Navy to becomeAliakmon (L104). She was sold in 1971 and broken up the following year.
