Nash (tugboat)

Nash is a World War II U.S. Army Large Tug (LT) class seagoing tugboat built as hull #298 at Jakobson Shipyard, Oyster Bay NY as a Design 271 steel hulled Large Tug delivered November, 1943. Originally named Major Elisha K. Henson (LT-5), in 1946 she was renamed John F. Nash by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since retirement from the Corps of Engineers, LT-5 has been renamed Major Elisha K. Henson. LT-5 is the last functional U.S. Army vessel that participated in Normandy landings.

LT-5 sailed to Great Britain in February 1944 in anticipation of Operation Overlord, the planned allied invasion Europe. On June 6, 1944, LT-5 sailed for Normandy with two barges as part of Operation Mulberry, in support of Overlord. Under fire, the tug ferried supplies to the landing beaches for the next month, in the process shooting down a German fighter aircraft on June 9.

After the war, LT-5 returned to the United States. Assigned to the Buffalo District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in May 1946, LT-5 was renamed John F. Nash. Nash was the Buffalo District's Senior Engineer and Chief Civilian Assistant for the period 1932 to 1941. From 1946 to 1989, Nash served the lower Great Lakes region by assisting in the maintenance of harbors, and construction projects that included the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s.

Renamed Major Elisha K. Henson, she has been largely restored to her original configuration by the H. Lee White Marine Museum in Oswego, New York where she is currently on display. Tours are available Mid-May through the end of September. LT-5 was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. A sister ship, the Major Wilbur Fr. Browder (LT-4), now the Tug Ludington, is a museum ship with a similar history, located at Kewaunee, Wisconsin.