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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

Landing Craft Tank
LCT(5)-203

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal (3) - World War II Victory Medal
Landing Craft Tank (Mark 5):
  • Laid down, 17 September 1942, at Bison Shipbuilding Corp, North Tonawanda, N.Y.
  • Launched, 2 October 1942
  • Delivered and placed in service, 16 October 1942
  • During World War II LCT(5)-203 was assigned to the Europe-Africa-Middle Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

    Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Sicilian occupation
    9 to 15 July 1943     		Invasion of southern France, 15 August to 12 September 1944
    West coast of Italy operations - 1944
    Anzio-Nettuno, 22 to 23 January 1944
    Elba and Pianosa landings, 17 June 1944     		 

  • Placed out of service, date unknown
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 25 February 1946
  • Sold for Merchant Service, date unknown
  • Purchased by Lullabye Furniture Co., Stevens Point, Wisconsin
  • LCT(5)-203 earned three battle stars for World War II service
  • Delivered, 4 July 1946, to the War Shipping Administration for disposal
  • Registered in 1946 by Pluswood, Inc. Oshkosh, WI. as freighter Pluswood homeported at Milwaukee, WI.
  • Registered in 1948 by Northern Hardwood Veneers, Inc. homeported at Duluth, MN., name changed in 1954 Outer Island
  • Registered in 1963 by Edwin M. Erickson of Bayfield, WI. Erickson Marine Freight, homeport, Duluth, WI.
  • Registered, date unknown, by Ken Dodson, Bayfield, WI.
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 285 t.(fl)
    Length 114' 2" (o.a.)
    Beam 32' 8"
    Draft
    limiting 3' 6"
    max.navigational 3' 6"
    Speed 10 kts.
    Range 700 nautical miles at 7 kts.
    Complement
    1 officer
    10 enlisted
    Cargo Capacity 150 short tons
    Armament
    two single 20mm AA gun mounts
    two .50 cal. machine guns
    Armor
    wheelhouse 2 1/2"
    gun shields 2"
    Fuel Capacity Diesel 80 Bbls
    Propulsion
    three Grey Marine 6-71 Diesel engines
    one Diesel-drive 20Kw 120V. D.C. Ship's service generator
    three propellers, 675shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    LCT-203
    LCT-203
    1018020304    		 462k LCT(5)-203 in Southern France, 16 August 1944. rame image from a short film named "Invasion of Southern France: German Prisoners, Beachhead scenes, and PT Boast Refueling."
    Dept. of Defense. Dept. of the Navy. Naval Photographic Center. National Archives I.D.: 77348; Local Identifier: 428-NPC_5103; NAIL Control No. NWDNW(m)-428-NPC-5103    		 David Upton
    Merchant Service
    LCT-203 70k Ex-LCT(5)-203 in merchant service as Outer Island at Bayfield, WI. World War II LCT veterans attending the 20th LCT reunion in June 2003 take their first ride on an LCT in almost 60 years. LCT Flotillas of World War II ETO PTO web site
    LCT-203 38k Outer Island under way on Lake Superior, date unknown.
    Photo by Walt Slater    		 Richard Fox, WWII LCT web site
    LCT-203 8k Outer Island under way hauling logs for Lullabye Furniture Co., Stevens Point. Photo from the 1959 Lullabye Catalog. Outer Island (named after one of the Apostle Islands) is a working vessel in the Bayfield area, used for dredging, setting and building docks, hauling rocks and other marine construction. Sold to the Lullabye Furniture Company after WWII, and then sold in 1964 for $50,000 to Bayfield businessman and former mayor Ed Erickson. It is now owned by Ken Dobson and berthed at the former Erickson Marina in Bayfield. The barge spent four years in Racine helping lay the city's water line from Lake Michigan. In 1972, it was nearly crushed by early winter ice in the Straits of Mackinac.
    Outer Island itself has also played major roles in historic preservation and research. It served as the platform for a 2001 project led by Wisconsin’s Underwater Archeology Program to replace the 15,000 pound boiler taken in 1961 from the wreck of the schooner Pretoria. The Pretoria was lost in 1905 during a storm off Outer Island (for more on this fascinating story see Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks). In 1970 Outer Island served as the work platform for a research team led by the University of Wisconsin and the U.S. Coast Guard Oceanographic Office working on the Keweenaw Current Project (the Keweenaw Current is the Gulf Stream like current of Lake Superior). Photo and info courtesy of UWSP (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) Library, photo by Walt Slater    		 Robert Hurst
    There is no history for LCT(5)-203 available at NavSource
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information Web Sites
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    World War II LCT Flotillas
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 15 December 2023