Landing Craft - WWII Types

WWII Types

Nine-ton Landing Craft Navigation (LCN) were used by British "Combined Operations Assault Pilotage Parties" (Royal Marine and Special Boat Service crew) for surveying landing sites.

The "Landing Craft Control" (LCC) were 56-foot (17 m) U.S. Navy vessels, carrying only the crew (Scouts and Raiders) and newly-developed radar. Their main job was to find and follow the safe routes in to the beach, lanes which had been cleared of obstacles and mines. There were eight in the entire Normandy invasion (two per beach). After leading in the first wave, they were to head back out and bring in the second wave. After that, they were used as all-purpose command and control assets during the invasion.

The smallest landing craft were amphibians such as the U.S.-designed Landing Vehicle Tracked, an amphibious (and sometimes armored) personnel carrier. These were operated by Army personnel, not naval crews. They had a capacity of about three tons. The British introduced their own amphibian the Terrapin.

Of the landing craft proper the smallest were the U.S. Landing Craft Personnel, Large (10 tons) and the British Landing Craft Assault (LCA) (13 tons). These were small craft intended to be transported around by larger vessels then lowered into the water off the target beach. Typically they could carry 36 fully armed soldiers. The LCPL sometimes came with an enclosed cockpit and was often used as a command boat. It lacked a loading ramp which the LCA did have.

The U.S. Landing Craft Vehicle/Personnel (LCVP), also known as a Higgins Boat, was a more flexible variant of the LCPL with a wide ramp — it could carry 36 troops or a small vehicle such as a Jeep, or a corresponding amount of cargo.

Landing Craft, Mechanized were larger (36 tons), capable of carrying one small tank or 100 troops.

None of the above was capable of making a voyage longer than about 6–12 hours, mainly through fuel limitations. The Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is used to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.

Then came the Landing Craft Infantry (Large) or LCI(L), capable of making serious voyages under its own power (some were sailed directly from the United Kingdom to take part in the Operation Torch landings, and U.S. Navy LCIs island hopped across the Pacific). LCI(L)s were about 158 feet long and 23 feet wide and carried around 200 troops. There were several sub-types of the craft, with the LCI(L) infantry carrier dominating; but LCIs also served as rocket (LCI(R)) and mortar (M), and gunboat (G) platforms, as well as a flotilla flagship (FF). While still intended to run up on the beach, these tended to have a normal type bow with stepped ramps on each side for the troops to disembark. The LCI was re-classified Landing Ship Infantry (LSI) by the U.S. in 1949.

Of a similar size was the Landing Craft Tank, which could carry up to 4 tanks or other vehicles. These had a ramp at the front which was dropped for the vehicles to get ashore. Behind the ramp was an open space known as the Tank Deck. There were several different designs and sizes varied.

The next step was the Landing Ship Tank. This carried more vehicles than the LCT (20 in the US-built versions) and had normal looking bows, although the bows were actually formed by doors which were opened for the unloading ramp to drop. Fully loaded, these displaced more than 3,000 tons, rather more than any Royal Navy destroyers of the period.

Finally there was the Landing Ship Dock, which had a large open compartment at the back. Opening a stern door and flooding special compartments allowed this area to be open to the sea and LCI-sized vessels could enter or leave.

Initial British nomenclature used different type names leading to alternate names such as Assault Landing Craft, Infantry Landing Craft and Tank Landing Craft.

Due to their rather small size the majority were not given names and were simply given serial numbers, e.g., LCT 304. The LSTs were an exception to this being much the same size as a small cruiser. Three British-built LSTs were named as well, HMS Boxer, HMS Bruiser and HMS Thruster which were somewhat larger than the U.S. design; they also had proper funnels.