If you have a List of type string that you want in a drop down list I do the following:
EDIT: Clarified, making it a fuller example.
public class ShipDirectory
{
public string ShipDirectoryName { get; set; }
public List<string> ShipNames { get; set; }
}
ShipDirectory myShipDirectory = new ShipDirectory()
{
ShipDirectoryName = "Incomming Vessels",
ShipNames = new List<string>(){"A", "A B"},
}
myShipDirectory.ShipNames.Add("Aunt Bessy");
@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.ShipNames, new SelectList(Model.ShipNames), "Select a Ship...", new { @style = "width:500px" })
Which gives a drop down list like so:
<select id="ShipNames" name="ShipNames" style="width:500px">
<option value="">Select a Ship...</option>
<option>A</option>
<option>A B</option>
<option>Aunt Bessy</option>
</select>
To get the value on a controllers post; if you are using a model (e.g. MyViewModel) that has the List of strings as a property, because you have specified x => x.ShipNames you simply have the method signature as (because it will be serialised/deserialsed within the model):
public ActionResult MyActionName(MyViewModel model)
Access the ShipNames value like so: model.ShipNames
If you just want to access the drop down list on post then the signature becomes:
public ActionResult MyActionName(string ShipNames)
EDIT: In accordance with comments have clarified how to access the ShipNames property in the model collection parameter.