The “Landing Ship, Tank” (LST on the list of ship registration codes of the US Navy or Bâtiment de Débarquement de Chars in the French Navy) is a type of vessel for amphibious operations created during World War II to unload heavy vehicles on unprepared places such as beaches.
1,051 of these ships designed from 1940 were built by Allied shipyards and proved essential for landing operations in Europe and the Pacific, 37 were lost by the US Navy during this conflict.
In 2008, several buildings of this first generation of LST are still in service in various military navies.