Near downtown Muskegon is an old naval warship. Its a unique looking ship with its bow doors open. It opens because it is a tank landing ship and one of only two remaining out of a thousand that were constructed for WWII.

LST 393 was laid down on 27 July 1942 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company and launched on 11 November 1942. LST 393 arrived in the Omaha Beach zone on the night of June 6, 1944. She made 30 round trips to Omaha Beach, bringing varied equipment and supplies to France and returning with wounded soldiers as well as thousands of German prisoners.

Following the War, LST 393 returned to the United States, was decommissioned on 1 March 1946. The ship was sold to the Sand Products Corporation of Detroit, for conversion to merchant service and renamed Highway 16. She would be a waterborne extension of the former U.S. Highway 16 and sail as a car ferry from Muskegon to Milwaukee. Highway 16 was replaced by Interstate 96 and the old veteran of D-day was never put into service as a ferry. In the mid-2000s she was restored and now serves as a museum ship for visitors to explore. If you are visiting Muskegon stop by and tour LST 393 I thought it was fascinating and they have some excellent displays honoring military veterans.

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Want to keep track of the tall ships locations while they sail around the Great Lakes? With the Tall Ships Celebration that is happening in Bay City this weekend July 18th to the 21st, they will be traveling from Lake Erie up the Detroit River, the St Clair River and around the Thumb. You can find their location on the lakes at this website HERE

After the port of Bay City, they travel to Green Bay so if you are anywhere along Lake Huron you may see them sailing to Wisconson, The ultimate thing would be seeing them sail under the Mackinac Bridge. If you are in the straits next week be sure to track their location and maybe you will get that chance.

P.S. if you want to keep track of freighters and other ships you can do that HERE

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Most people are familiar with the S.S. Badger car ferry that traverses Lake Michigan from Ludington to Wisconsin. few know that she has a twin sister the S.S. Spartan that is tied up in Ludington near where the Badger loads and unloads vehicles in Ludington. It was built in 1950 along with its sister ship. C&O Railroad that owned the ferries usually named them after cities such as The City of Milwaukee but they decided that fewer feelings would be hurt if the twin ferries were named Spartan and Badger, after the mascots of Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin.

by the late 1970s ferry service was declining and C&O was going to lease the Spartan to the Ann Arbor Railroad to sail out of Frankfort but the harbor was too shallow for the large ship. Since 1980 she has been tied up to the slip in Ludington and used for parts to keep the old steam-powered Badger running.

If you are in Ludington and the badger is sailing across Lake Michigan you can always see her twin who is faithfully waiting for her sister to return.

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