USS LSM-45

LSM-45 in San Francisco Bay, ca. 1945–46
History
United States
Name:	USS LSM-45
Builder:	Brown Shipyard Co., Houston, Texas
Laid down:	6 June 1944
Launched:	30 June 1944
Commissioned:	31 July 1944
Decommissioned:	27 March 1947
Fate:	Transferred to Greece, 3 November 1958
Greece
Name:	Ypoploiarchos Grigoropoulos
Acquired:	3 November 1958
Identification:	L161
Fate:	Returned to United States as museum ship, 1998 Sold to be converted into a barge, then scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type:	LSM-1-class Landing Ship Medium
Displacement:	520 long tons (528 t) empty 1,095 long tons (1,113 t) full load
Length:	203 ft 6 in (62.03 m)
Beam:	34 ft 6 in (10.52 m)
Draft:	Landing : 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) forward 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m) aft Full load : 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) forward 8 ft 3 in (2.51 m) aft
Propulsion:	2 Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines, 2,800 shp (2,088 kW), direct drive, 2 screws
Speed:	13.2 knots (24.4 km/h; 15.2 mph)
Range:	4,900 nmi (9,100 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Capacity:	5 × medium tanks or 3 × heavy tanks or 6 × LVTs or 9 × DUKWs
Troops:	2 officers, 46 enlisted
Complement:	5 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament:	1 × single 40 mm AA gun 4 × single 20 mm AA guns

USS LSM-45 is a LSM-1-class medium landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. The ship also served as Ypoploiarchos Grigoropoulos (L161) in the Hellenic Navy from 1958 to 1993. She was the last known surviving LSM in its original configuration. Currently located at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, LSM-45 was donated to the Museum of the Marine by the now defunct Amphibious Ship Museum under the understanding that it would be put on display at the museum, and was towed to North Carolina in 2004 from Omaha, Nebraska. The museum decided in 2007 that the ship will not be a part of the museum and is looking for another home for the ship. In 2009, there were reports that the Museum was considering scrapping or sinking the ship as an artificial reef. The ship was scrapped sometime between 2010 and 2014.

USS LSM-45 was laid down on 6 June 1944 at Brown Shipyard Co. in Houston, Texas, and was launched on 30 June 1944. She was commissioned on 31 July 1944, Lt. Charles D. Freight USNR, in command.

During World War II LSM-45 was assigned to the Pacific Theater and saw service in the Philippines. She was decommissioned on 27 March 1947 at Green Cove Springs, Florida, and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida Group, Green Cove Springs.

On 3 November 1958, the ship was transferred to Greece, and served in the Hellenic Navy under the name Ypoploiarchos Grigoropoulos (L-161).

In early 1998, the Amphibious Museum of the Americas (AMA) found the former LSM-45 in Greece, half sunk. The AMA raised and restored the ship and had it towed back to the United States. A press release stated, "We have found USS LSM-45 in the Grecian Isles and she is being returned to the United States to be placed in the National Naval Museum at Freedom Park, Omaha, Nebraska, right on the Missouri River." Getting LSM-45 ready for towing to New Orleans took a month in the Greek naval base's repair yard.