CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 10, 1999 | DAN WEIKEL, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The Lane Victory hauled munitions in the South Pacific at the close of World War II. During the Korean War, it ferried troops and evacuated 7,000 civilians as the Communists advanced on Inchon. When the Vietnam War started, the government summoned the aging transport out of the reserve fleet to serve the U.S. military for a third time. Today, the last operational Victory ship, which has been restored by a group of retired merchant seamen in Los Angeles Harbor, is in a new battle.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
September 26, 2011 | By Ari Bloomekatz, Los Angeles Times
Docked in San Pedro, the Lane Victory has long been designated a historic landmark for its service in the Korean War, the Vietnam War and World War II. But the hulking 455-foot-long gray cargo ship rarely sees open water these days. So when the vessel pulled out of the channel Saturday morning and headed toward Santa Catalina Island, Ralph Wetterhahn declared that the Lane Victory was now alive. "Seeing this thing go to sea — when you crank up those boilers and those props start to turn — she's got life," said Wetterhahn, 69, a Vietnam War veteran who helped with Saturday's trip.
TRAVEL
February 15, 1998
Regarding your excellent feature ("The Netherlands, For Sail," Jan. 25) on Amsterdam and the maritime museums there, I wonder how many of your readers know about the museum on board the S.S. Lane Victory in San Pedro? Berthed by the Catalina Cruise terminal (Berth 94), the ship has a fascinating museum detailing many different aspects of U.S. (and WWII Allies) maritime history, plus one of the best collections of ship models in the Los Angeles area. If your readers are into maritime history, I suggest they check out the museum on the Lane Victory by calling (310)
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 24, 2013 | By Dan Weikel
On the west side of Van Nuys Airport it's like World War II never ended. Vintage propeller planes once flown by U.S. Navy, Army Air Forces and Royal Air Force pilots are parked wingtip to wingtip along the taxiway. Nearby buildings are painted in camouflage. The sound of swing music sometimes drifts across the tarmac, and olive drab flight jackets are de rigueur. The planes and buildings belong to Condor Squadron, a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring America's veterans and the public display of the North American AT-6/SNJ Texan - a sturdy two-seater that helped train tens of thousands of military pilots during World War II and the Korean War. The group and its members own eight of the planes, making Van Nuys the site of one of the largest collections of such aircraft in the nation.
NEWS
June 21, 1992 | SUSAN PATERNO
In a career of more than 60 years, John Smith has sailed to every port on every continent, defended ships in World War II and skippered Catalina's glass-bottom boat. Today, at 81, he helps run the Lane Victory, the only museum in Southern California dedicated to preserving the history of a dying breed: the American Merchant Marine. Berthed in San Pedro and open to the public, the Lane Victory from the mid-1940s served as a transport ship in wartime and in peacetime as a cargo ship.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 23, 1993 | GORDON DILLOW, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The Lane Victory may be the world's most unusual cruise ship. There are none of the customary amenities one would find on the Princess Lines or Carnival Cruises--no health spa, no four-star dining room, no casino, no swimming pools, no luxury cabins. In fact, there aren't any passenger cabins at all. But the Lane Victory offers its passengers a lot of things other cruise ships don't. Cannons, for example. And a contingent of armed soldiers riding shotgun.