This 327 foot long LST landing craft, hull number CVE 55, was built by Kaiser S.B. Company in Vancouver, Washington. She was originally built as the Alazon Bay, hull number ACV-55, and was commissioned on July 8, 1943, under the command of Captain W. M Miller. She was stricken from the Navy register on July 3, 1946, and in 1948, she had her bow doors welded up and was converted into a bulk cargo vessel. Last owned by the Casa Blanca Shipping Corp., Monrovia, a company controlled by Suwannee Steamship Co., Jacksonville, the Casa Blanca was sunk in the summer of 1972 as an artificial reef.

The Casa Blanca now sits intact 30 miles off Jacksonville. The wreck's hull sits upright in 115 feet of water, but her upper deck comes to within 65 feet of the surface. This wreck holds a wide array of fish including snapper, jew fish, barracuda, shark and spotted rays. Average visibility during the summer months ranges from 50 to 100 feet, while in the winter visibility is drastically reduced to 20 or 30 feet. She is an excellent site for macro and wide angle photography.

Basic shipwreck information and images for this section of this site was taken with permission from the book Florida Shipwrecks by Daniel Berg. You are invited to submit your shipwreck related articles, images and information. As long as the text, photographs, sketches etc are of professional quality we will showcase them. Full credit will be provide and a same page link to your web site can be arranged.

Photo: The 327 foot LST landing craft Casa Blanca now sits upright in 115 feet of water. Photo courtesy Bill Schell collection.