Hundreds of people from Ashdod and neighboring areas gathered on the city’s beach on Saturday to see a US army vessel that had become stuck on the beach next to a piece of the floating pier that the US built recently to bring aid to Gaza. The vessel, LCM 8558, is a landing craft.
The US Army and the IDF worked together during the late afternoon to try to find a solution for the beached vessel. A front loader dug out sand from beneath its large propellers.
Then, the front loader was attached to the starboard bow of the vessel to try to pivot the watercraft to free it. Low tide prevented this from working.
Eventually, the USAV Matamoros, a US naval ship, arrived offshore to try to help. As the sun set, the IDF attempted to help with a drone to bring a line out to the Matamoros. This did not work, because the current carried the line too strongly, and the drone was not strong enough. Later, men attempted to swim the line out to the waiting vessel.
Meanwhile, the landing craft remained marooned on the beach. This was a rare example of the ability of the US and Israel to work in real-time to free a vessel like this. It is likely the first time in history that a US army vessel has been grounded on a beach on the coast of Israel.
US completes construction of the aid pier
The US Army sent vessels to build a floating pier in March. It took them until late April to arrive.
The pier was built near Ashdod and then towed off the coast of Gaza, where it became operational in early May, allowing trucks to bring pallets from it to shore.
A piece of the pier floated over 1.5 meters away due to high winds and sweeps on Friday night. This caused the landing craft to end up on the beach of Ashdod, necessitating this operation.