(Radio Iowa) – A floating museum housed inside an 80-year-old warship is docked for the next several days on the Mississippi River in Muscatine, its only stop in Iowa this year. Cory Burdette is the museum operations coordinator for the L-S-T 3-2-5, which is packed with history and open for tours. “The LST, or landing ship tank, was designed in World War Two to be the largest naval vessel to transport troops, supplies, equipment and vehicles — such as tanks, trucks and a variety of different things — directly on the beach during amphibious landings,” Burdette says. This particular ship has a storied past and it’s the only one of its kind that remains seaworthy.

Photos courtesy of the USS LST Ship Memorial

“What’s special about the 325 is in World War Two, the United States made 1,051 LSTs, and out of all the ones that were made in World War Two, this is the last one that is still fully functional,” Burdette says, “and it goes to a variety of different places, including the beautiful city of Muscatine, Iowa.” The 3-2-5 saw action during World War Two, it was used in the Arctic Ocean in the 1950s, and was later in the service of the Greek Navy before it was acquired by the USS LST Ship Memorial in 2000 and refurbished. Its home port is now on the Ohio River in Evansville, Indiana. The ship is 328 feet long — longer than a football field — and all of its decks are open for exploring, including the tank deck, which could hold 20 Sherman tanks.

“There’s going to be a tour route designated for you,” Burdette says. “We have over 50 volunteers that are living on the ship and they’ll help you with taking pictures, describing displays and everything like that, and you just go around at your own leisure.” L-S-Ts were also used during the Korean and Vietnam wars, so visiting the ship is a way for some veterans to “come home,” Burdette says, or for younger people to connect with a relative who served. “People can watch documentaries and people can read books all day, and those are great, don’t get me wrong, but immersing yourself in it, literally feeling it, smelling it, touching it,” Burdette says. “We have a saying on the ships that whenever you get on board, you walk the decks of history, and it’s true because you’re walking where these guys walked.”

The ship will be in Muscatine through Monday and is open for tours 9-to-5 daily.