January 15, 2026: Late last year the U.S. Navy selected the Dutch firm Damen’s LST/Landing Ship, Tank 100 design for the new U.S. McClung-class landing ship medium. The American 4,000 ton LST 100 is a hundred meters long and 16 meters wide. It has a top speed of 28 kilometers an hour and a range of 6,300 kilometers before needing refuelling and resupply. This ship can carry 5oo tons of cargo or vehicles including M1 tanks, HIMARs missile carriers, trucks or up to 282 troops. There is a flight deck that can handle medium size helicopters like the SH-60 or drones. Crew size varies from 18-32 depending what type of operations and how long the LST will be at sea.

In World War II nearly a thousand of the first LSTs were built from 1942 to 1945. They could carry as many as 20 tanks and put them right on to a beach. The beaching process was not without its shortcomings. While the ship had a full load displacement of 4,000 tons, it could only be at 2,400 tons when running up on the beach. Even at that, there was usually damage done to the LST. The average landing operation would render ten percent of the LSTs involved unfit for further service. Moreover, the wear and tear on those that survived the run up onto the beach was such that, during the war, only about 85 percent of the LSTs still operational were actually fit enough for another landing. In effect, after about ten landings, an LST was a wreck and no longer useable for anything but moving cargo from one dock to another. This was typical of all ships that ran up on beaches to disgorge their cargo. The Navy continued building another 200 this World War II design up until 39 years after World War II ended in 1945.

The LST was basically a modified transport and, as such, was rather slow at 14 kilometers an hour normally, with a max speed of 20-22 kilometers an hour. Normally they carried a crew of some 100 and were usually armed with eight 40mm anti-aircraft guns. LSTs were often converted to other uses, especially when they only had a few more beach landings left in their tortured hulls. Some ended up serving as repair ships, PT-boat tenders, floating barracks and supply dumps, casualty evacuation ships, and even improvised aircraft carriers for light reconnaissance planes, eight of which could be operated off a portable airstrip set up on deck. It was often said that LST referred to Large Slow Target because of their slow speed and weak anti-aircraft armament.

Several other nations designed and built LSTs. The Indian Shardul class LST entered service in 2007. Designed and built in India, the 5,600 ton ship can carry 11 tanks, ten other vehicles and 500 troops. It has a crew of 156, and is armed with two 18 tube, 140.4mm rocket launchers, two 30mm autocannon, and some shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles. A medium helicopter can be carried and operated off a landing deck. Top speed is 28 kilometers an hour, and the ship can stay at sea for 45 days before needing replenishment of supplies.