Impressive as that was, this fell well-short of the need. Most LSTs were constructed at so-called “cornfield shipyards” along the Ohio and Illinois Rivers, which collectively produced an average of 24 new LSTs each month. In particular, there was fierce competition for steel plates, needed not only for ship construction, but for tanks, airplanes, and, indeed, almost all weapons of 20th-century warfare. On top of that, the LST construction program competed with other accession programs. More than 30,000 parts went into the construction of one LST, and recreating such a lengthy supply chain took time. Retooling a shipyard, however, is not a matter of simply throwing a switch. government ordered four American shipyards that had been reconfigured to build destroyers to shift back to the construction of Liberty ships and LSTs. With the German U-boat menace under control (if not entirely suppressed) by late spring 1943, the Allies sought to reinvigorate the LST program. The decision turned out to be the right one: the new escorts helped turn the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic.
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