Name LST-13 Sponsored by Mrs. Jean A. Brackmann Acquired 3 April 1943 Builder Dravo Corporation | Laid down 1 September 1942 Name LST-13 Launched 5 January 1943 | |
 | ||
Status Transferred to the United Kingdom 3 April 1943 Operation Normandy landings (6–13 June 1944) | ||
USS LST-13 was an LST-1-class tank landing ship of the United States Navy. LST-13 was transferred to the Royal Navy in early 1943 to serve in the European Theater of Operations during 1943 and 1944.
Contents
Construction
LST-13 was laid down on 1 September 1942 by the Dravo Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, launched on 5 January 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Jean A. Brackmann. She was transferred to and commissioned into the Royal Navy 3 April 1943.
Service history
LST-13 left Galveston, Texas, on 10 April 1943, with Convoy HK 168, enroute to Key West, Florida, arriving 14 April 1943.
LST-13 left from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the Liverpool on 18 May 1943, with convoy SC 131, carrying general cargo, however, due to defects she had to return to Halifax. She then sailed with convoy SC 132 on 26 May 1943, arriving in Liverpool 11 June 1943.
Conversion
LST-13 was sent to the Clyde area where she remained until November 1943. She then sailed for Southampton but returned to Clydebank 31 December 1943. She was sent to the John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Shipyards to be converted into a Fighter Direction Tender, being redesignated FDT-13 in January 1944.
European operations
FDT-13 participated in the Invasion of Normandy from 6–13 June 1944. She provided aircraft control for both US and British fighters defending the main shipping route from the United Kingdom to the invasion beaches in France.
Postwar service
FDT-13 was returned to the US Navy on 27 February 1946, at Norfolk, Virginia, and struck from the Naval Register on 5 June 1946.
FDT-13 was sold on 11 October 1947 to Luria Brothers, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.