USS LST - 510 USS " Buncombe County " ( LST - 510 ) was an built for the United States Navy during World War II . Named for Buncombe County , North Carolina , she was the only U . S . Naval vessel to bear the name . " LST - 510 " was laid down on 27 September 1943 at Jeffersonville , Indiana by the Jeffersonville Boat and Machine Company ; launched on 30 November 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . C . P . Watson ; and placed in reduced commission on 18 January 1944 . Departing her builders ' yard three days later , on 21 January , " LST - 510 " proceeded down the Mississippi River to New Orleans , where she was placed in full commission on 31 January 1944 with Lieutenant George P . Andrews in command . Service history . Convoy to England , March – April 1944 . After fitting out , " LST - 510 " carried out an abbreviated shakedown cruise to the vicinity of Panama City , Florida , returning to New Orleans in February for post - shakedown availability . On 1 March " LST - 510 " loaded the 150 - ton tank landing craft onto her upper deck . She then headed to New York City , where she embarked additional crewmen and took on board 600 tons of ammunition . From there , she proceeded via Boston to Halifax , Nova Scotia and then left North American waters on 29 March in a 64 - ship convoy . Like most passages of the North Atlantic during World War II , this one proved hazardous and chilling , both in the physical and the psychological sense . In one three - day period , she endured fog , sleet , and a wind that drove waves over her bow . Then , there was the occasional iceberg . Yet , undoubtedly , U - boat s caused the greatest anxiety . They torpedo ed four ships in the convoy , one of them just away on " LST - 510 " s port quarter . On one occasion , maneuvers to evade the unseen enemy briefly threw the convoy into disorder in dense fog . To make matters worse , " LST - 510 " s engines broke down . All on board shared the certain fear that a torpedo would soon set off her explosive cargo until successful repairs allowed her to resume her harried voyage . " LST - 510 " reached Derry , Northern Ireland safely on 13 April . Invasion of Normandy , June 1944 . From there , " LST - 510 " crossed the Irish Sea and stopped briefly at Milford Haven , Wales before proceeding on to Plymouth , England where she delivered " LCT - 709 " . During May , 1944 " LST - 510 " outfitted at Falmouth and Fowey for her next mission while " scuttlebutt " over the nature of that assignment flew furiously . Orders to load vehicles only heightened the excitement and accelerated the pace of work . Then , on 1 June 1944 , " LST - 510 " embarked 200 men and 70 vehicles of the 29th Infantry Division , and the ship backed out into the bay and anchored . From that moment on , no one was allowed off the ship . At 0337 on 4 June , " LST - 510 " weighed anchor and got underway , bound for the coast of France , but put about to return to Plymouth when foul weather compelled postponement . Finally , at 0355 on 5 June , " LST - 510 " again shaped a course for France . By daybreak , " LST - 510 " had formed up with Convoy B 1 of the 4 , 000 - vessel Western Task Force . Neither " LST - 510 " nor her embarked soldiers took part in the initial assault at Normandy . The invasion was already eight hours old when she began approaching Omaha Beach , near Vierville . She could not get all the way in to the beach itself , so " LST - 510 " unloaded her cargo and disembarked her men via LCTs and " Rhino " pontoon barges . That night , " LST - 510 " endured her first air raid , but her only loss proved to be sleep . The raids continued sporadically throughout the night . Even before all of " LST - 510 " s cargo had been unloaded , she began embarking wounded men for treatment . The three doctors on board performed their work in a " magnificent " manner , " in the face of existing conditions , " laboring throughout the night on the ship ' s tank deck where an operating room had been set up . Channel operations , June 1944 – June 1945 . In the next three months , " LST - 510 " shuttled between the Isle of Portland and Weymouth , England , and Utah or Omaha Beach , transporting troops and vehicles eastward and casualties westward across the English Channel . Late in late September , on her 21st passage across the channel , " LST - 510 " beached over a hollow on the bottom which produced abnormal stresses on her hull , throwing her starboard shaft out of alignment . Forced to return to England on one engine , the tank landing ship was drydocked for repairs at Plymouth for a month . " LST - 510 " spent the first half of November , 1944 at anchor off Le Havre with a low - priority cargo waiting word to move inshore . Following two voyages to Rouen , the ship was proceeding to Cherbourg when she hit an underwater obstruction which holed her hull , flooding both engine rooms and plunging the ship into darkness . The next day , in tow of another LST , the ship headed back to Portland for temporary repairs , and to Falmouth for another month of drydocking and engine repairs . Even after that , bad luck continued to dog " LST - 510 " . On 5 February 1945 while returning from Le Havre in a dense fog , she collided bow - to - bow with SS " Chapel Hill Victory " south of the Isle of Wight , demolishing her own bow as far aft as frame 10 . The pea - soup fog had nullified the efforts of her bow lookouts who had but a few seconds warning as the " Victory ship " loomed out of the murk . One of " LST - 510 " s bow lookouts died in the mishap . Drydocked at Falmouth until mid - May , " LST - 510 " finally left Plymouth for the United States on 7 June 1945 . Return to the US , June 1945 . After touching at Norfolk , the tank landing ship proceeded via New Orleans to Galveston , Texas where she prepared for Pacific service . However , Japan ' s capitulation in August 1945 cancelled plans for her journey to the Pacific . Instead , " LST - 510 " reported to Green Cove Springs , Florida where she was placed out of commission on 1 July 1946 . " LST - 510 " received one battle star for her World War II service . Decommissioning and sale . Inactive for over a decade , she was named USS " Buncombe County " ( LST - 510 ) on 1 July 1955 . Deemed " unfit for further Naval service " on 27 October 1958 , her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 November 1958 . In 1960 or 1961 , the ship was sold to the Chesapeake Bay Ferry District of Norfolk , Virginia and renamed MV Virginia Beach . Resold in 1964 or 1965 to the Delaware River and Bay Authority , she was renamed MV " Cape Henelopen " and converted to a passenger and auto ferry in 1966 , operating between Lewes , Delaware and Cape May , New Jersey . Purchased in 1983 by Cross Sound Ferry Services , Inc . of New London , Connecticut , she continued in Cape May - Lewes Ferry service . She was purchased in 1983 by Cross Sound Ferry Services Inc . and underwent a total refurbishment before entering service between Orient Point , New York ( Long Island ) and New London , perhaps making it the only D - Day veteran ship to still be in active service ( map ) . The ferry was repowered during the winter of 1995 with EMD 12 - 645 diesel engines .