Tom, thank you for that wonderful presentation. My grandfather was a Merchant Marine aboard a hospital ship during the D-Day landing at Omaha beach, and he was a Higgins boat operator. I used to listen to his stories as a kid of him bringing that boat to the beach, to recover wounded Soldiers. As he lowered the ramp, he would duck down behind the controls, as the MG-42 gunfire came bouncing in. When it was filled with as many wounded as it could possibly hold, he would raise the ramp and throw that Screamin' Jimmy into full reverse, not sticking his head up, until he was a good 1/4 mile from the beach. He spent three days carrying wounded Soldiers from the beach. After Normandy was secured, he had 30 days of liberty, so he "acquired" a bicycle and, with his very broken French, pedaled his way down the western coast of France to the south and then back up, never once running into a German Soldier. He passed away on Christmas Eve, 2013, at age 88, and I miss him dearly. Thanks again.
May your Father Rest In Peace, having played his part in the Liberation of Europe from the tiranny of Nazi Germany occupation. Lest We Forget. Mark, Melbourne, Australia.
There was a reason the men of the allied forces were called the greatest generation. As hard as they fought, as difficult as the struggle was, who would have thought that, in America, their children would be that last generation of Americans when the United States fell to the Communist Party USA on January 20, 2009.
@@servicarrider I don't think it fell, merely stumbled. It regained its footing in 2016, though, but the struggle continues, which is why we need now, more than ever, to ensure that our Republic withstands the onslaught of youthful ignorance.
The Communist Party could not hold onto Russia or China. It is not about to take over the United States. The same cannot be said for the half assed racist wanna be nazi currently in the White House.
Andrew Higgins and his Eureka boat were in the right place at the right time. It's good seeing WW2 veteran, Roy, driving the old LCVP, doing what he was trained to do 65 years ago, doing his duty and a humble man, those were scary times and brave men.
Hello my father served in the Royal Navy in combined ops in WW2. He was a doorman on an LCA on several commando raids, the Dieppe Raid as well as the invasions of North Africa and Sicily. It is a shame there are mo preserved LCAs perhaps overshadowed by the Higgins boat. Although I did see a condemned partially sunk LCA hulk in Langston harbour a few years ago but I couldn’t find anyone interested in rescuing it. Good programme. Thank you.
The LCVP were well proven in Pacific Landings from Guadalcanal to Okanawa. We knew what they could do and how to do it. I was a sailor in the USN during the Vietnam War. We were called the Brown Water Navy. If an Aircraft Carrier is one end of the Navy a PBR or a LCVP or LCM (Patrol Boat River, Landing Craft, Vehicle Personell, Landing Craft, Medium) was the other. We were charged with controlling VC weapons and supplies along the Mekong River. We used the LCVP's as pick up trucks and the LCM's as bigger trucks. When I got back IN 1967 I thought about buying a couple of these and setting up a maritime trucking service someplace with a lot of inhabited islands like the coast of Maine. Unfortunately i did not have the money or know how to get any. Besides as a Nam Vet I was not particularly popular at that time.
My dad picked a surplus 67 LCVP from the USN, and he's still using it on the coast north of Vancouver, BC. We put a cabin on it, much more comfortable in the rain here.
Well made and well done. My great uncle used one of these to get ashore on D-Day. Fortunately he was one of the lucky ones that made it all the way to Germany and then came back to his family. Documentaries like these are so important. We cannot, should not and must not forget our past or God help us, we will repeat our mistakes.
What a pleasant surprise to have an in depth examination of this boat. I especially liked the skip demonstration. I think it went a bit off claiming that the LCVP was finally proven to be effective at Normandy. It had been used in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and all over the Pacific by then.
Thanks for educating us on a little known but important piece of military equipment . And thanks to the young men who despite being scared to death did their jobs and won us the FREEDOMS we enjoy today . All were Heroes in my book
a couple of years ago I visited Normandy, got to fly over the beaches and visit both commonwealth and german cemeteries .... stood on the beach near Caen and damn near burst into tears. all my relatives came back, I have german friends but sometimes shit just gets too real. Rest in peace
All of those soldiers who died to protect the freedom of the people, who now let dirty corrupt politicians take those freedoms away, disgusting. But thank you for the great documentary, Tom.
while taking a cruise from Pittsburgh down to Stubenville I spotted one about 20 feet up on the riverbank...no idea how or why it got there....probably still there.....
Thank you for saving a piece of history for posterity. a few of similar vehicles served the the Thousand Islands including one large enough to carry a full concrete mixer.
Thank you for a great video. I'm particularly proud of the fact that my Great Uncle was awarded the MBE for his work in designing and building Britain's Terrapins which filled the gap while waiting for DUKWs to come to the UK in WWII.
What a great series, informative and very touching! Higgin's factory was later acquired by NASA and built parts of the Saturn V rockets and later the Space Shuttle boosters for many decades, and now the new Artemis craft is being built there for the new moon program.
In 1966 I joined the Navy and my first ship was an old WWII LST. It was the USS HICKMAN COUNTY. I was fortunate because I was chosen to be the coxswain of LCVP #1. I landed some Marines in I Corps at Cua Viet. The LCVP was fantastic and it was a lot of fun. We rigged up a large bumper on the front ramp because when we would go upriver to Saigon we used the LCVP for pusher boats t push the ship up alongside the pier. I was a blast to be dropped from the Davit when the ship was underway. Just before we hit the water I would start the boat up and as we hit the water the Bow Hook and engineman would disconnect the cables and I would peal away from the ship then after everything was normal I would travel alongside the ship till we were needed.
Too bad this show never mentioned the LCVPs were transported by larger attack transports to just off the beach... "Oh they came all the way from England to Normandy in these 36ft open-top boats..." Nope, hogwash. Just the last few miles! Amazing boats, but a team operation to be sure.
@@NightOwlModeler Do you want to hear a funny story which I was involved in? I was stationed onboard the USS Hickman County and I was the Coxswain of LCVP#1. We were in Viet Nam and when we went to Saigon it was very narrow where the Ship had to be docked and their were no Tugs. So, what we did was to hook up Very Large Bumpers on the Front Ramp. When the Bumpers were on the Ramp you could not see out of the observation cutout. So, we were underway approaching Saigon and before got to close the LCVP would be dropped into the water. We were all in position in the boat, there was the Bow Hook, the Engineman, and me the Coxswain. Once we were in place the Davit was activated and we were slowly lowered towards the water. When we got close enough I would start the boat up and one in the water we would disconnect the cables. Once that was done I would peel away so that I could take up position traveling parallel to the Ship. Well, in Viet Na there are some Local Fishermen who believe that evil spirits follow their boats and they try to pass off the evil spirits by cutting in front of another boat. So, I'm traveling parallel to the ship and the engine is roaring really loud and all of the sudden a papa san in a fishing boat had tried to cut in front of me. Well, the Bow Hook ran towards me and jumped on the engine cover and he was saying something. All the sudden I hit something that I did not see. It was Papa san trying to pass his evil spirits off onto me and I ran his ass over and sunk him! I never did go back or stop because I had to stay with my Ship. We eventually were able to turn the Ship and get it tied up. The rest of the crew would not let it go and they even gave me a name, 'CRASH KRUZ'!
@@frankpienkosky5688 That is true. I saw that movie a couple times. In Saigon we didn't have tugs and the berth was narrow so we had to us the LCVP's as pusher boats.
Growing up in New Orleans I often passed the old Higgins Plant on the Industrial Canal. It is now gone. It should be noted that Higgins also build the second most produced version of the PT boat. As for his history, and how he made his reputation and fortune as a boat builder, that is even more colorful (if the stories are true). As the stories go, during the Prohibition, Higgins would sell fast boats to the police to pursue bootleggers in the swamps. Then, shortly after the police started using their new Higgins boats, he would go to the bootleggers and sell them improved and even faster boats. Then he'd repeat the cycle.
Back in the late 70's I was an Engineman ( diesel mechanic) in the Navy stationed in Subic Bay, Philippines and worked in "boat pool". Some shipmates and I worked on what was. Called "pusher boats" and we were like a small Tug Boat in the harbor. Basicly these boats were just like the boats in this video and moved craft around the area and even helped the Tug Boats to dock and undock the Navy ships that came into port for supplies, liberty and other things they needed. These "pusher boats had two 671 Detroit diesels with gears and throttle controls just like the boats in the video but the bow of our boats had solid steel front with thick rubber padding that rested against the boat/ship we were moving. Later a couple of the first class Engineman brought in an LCU from Guam's mothball fleet to get running and into service for the Marines and CB's to go across the bay on maneuvers or whatever they did. The CO gave us two days to get it done on Friday when it arrived and had it up and running by Sunday afternoon!! That's one of my favorite memories, among many of my tour in Subic Bay!! Thanks for the videos and for the trip down "Memory Lane" !! 🇺🇸👍🚢😁
This was interesting. Today I learned something, thank you!. So great to see such great engineering and craftmanship into such a small yet vital cog of the war machine. Very inspirational to see this made way for many generations after it.
I served as an Engineman on LCVP’s, LCM 6’s, LCM 8’s and LCPL’s in the early 70’s on the USS Shreveport. Boat crews consisted of three men. Coxswain, Bow Hook (line handler), and Engineman. We had two VP’s assigned to the ship which we carried on cradles on the O1 level. When we deployed, we would pick up other boats from Little Creek, VA when needed. I can’t believe there are only 5 LCVP’s left. They were great boats. Withstood a lot of punishment coming on and off the beaches and in and out of the well decks when the seas were rough. I often wondered if the boats we had were at Normandy. They were WWII vintage so maybe so. When we were underway we would climb up on the ramp, sit on the top with our legs hooked through the view port. A Leo DiCaprio moment. Kids. Great video. I really enjoyed watching it.
almost gives you the impression they sailed all the way across the channel....without mentioning the role of attack transports...even a short haul in one of these on a rough sea will have you puking your guts out...
The LCVP was also used in Guadalcanal . My Father was a sailor and 1st Class Machinist who piloted one of them during the first landing in Guadalcanal .
In the late 1960s, LCVPs were still being used by both the US Navy and US Coast Guard. I served aboard the Eastwind, a Coast Guard Ice Breaker, and we had 4 LCVPs that were the ship's work boats. Every US Ice Breaker carried 4 of these boats. The boats sat in cradles on the deck in pairs with one boat on top of the other.
I was an engineer aboard a LCVP in the US Navy during the disastrous Carter administration. At the time it was practice to crew this boat with a boat officer, coxswain, engineer, and bow hook man. In a wartime situation the engineer and bow hook was expected to man a machine gun as well. This beast was a dream to run. The LCVP was actually grossly overpowered with, in my qualified opinion, the best Diesel engine ever produced, the Gray Marine/Detroit Diesel 6-71. It was almost the perfect engine for roasting chickens by wrapping them in foil and sitting then atop the supercharger or exhaust manifold.
You talk about a British landing craft built in 1939 that had a narrow front opening, and could only carry men not vehicles. I have photographs of a British military landing craft with a full-width front opening allowing men and vehicles to be loaded and unloaded. The photographs were taken by my father Colonel Philip Denton RE., assistant director of the Anglo Canadian task force 1939 to 1945, developing landing craft, the crocodile flame thrower, pontoons and other equipment, throughout the war, and much of it built and tested near or on Lake Winnipeg, Canada. My Father died after the war when I was too young to understand what he had been doing. Sadly some years later an ignorant elder sister decided to get rid of a mountain of his documents and drawings on a bonfire. Recently I have been trying to find out all about the landing craft my father was involved in building and testing. I have written to the Royal Engineers museum in the UK, also the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa asking for information but with no reply. If anyone has any information about the British landing craft that looked similar to the US Higgins landing craft, but made in steel, not wood, with lower sides than the Higgins,, but high protruding front stanchions to winch up the front loading ramp, please contact me , Robert Denton at: firsthousepress@gmail.com
Hey Robert, are you based in UK or USA? I live within about 20 minutes of the royal engineers museum and would be happy to make an enquiry on your behalf if you could give some information as to what you would like to know?
There's a Landing Craft Tank (LCT 7074) that's recently been placed at the Portsmouth D-Day Museum. I think it's the last of its type in the world. I watched the engineers put it in place (it's just down the road from where I live).
A Well deserved plaudit for the LCVP by Higgins, but he was so much more for WW2. Higgins also constructed PT Boats which served on both fronts for USA and for UK, and he built lots of them as well. He was a major factor in the allied victory and General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ...
Remember the guy driving the boat had to go back to his ship and load up another group of infantry and take them in as the second wave. The second run is done when you know what an MG-34 sounds like and can do. Brave, brave men.
Blue or brown water on the first delivery but likely red water on the 2nd and subsequent deliveries. Those drivers delivered many men to their destiny.
I recall reading somewhere that Higgins bought a whole year's worth of ply form somewhere in 1939 or 40 knowing that his boat was the only solution and he was going to built them. Confidence, arrogance, who knows, but what a man.
20000 down to 5, crazy. Shows how many were either sunk, destroyed or just rotted away I guess! Cool interview with that old soldier, his story was very interesting to hear!
By all wartime accounts, the American GIs preferred to be ferried ashore in the British LCAs - they were more comfortable and better protected than their own LCVPs with bench seats and a double armoured door behind the smaller ramp rather than the single drop ramp of the American boats (remember Saving Pvt Ryan!) Yes it couldn't carry vehicles but it was designed as a Commando Assault boat being virtually silent from more than 25 yards away - that's what you need on a night raid! Good historical video though, many thanks!
My father crewed these boats LCI(L) as his US army Mechanized Cav unit was trained to man these boats in the Pacific campaign. His units landing craft brought the Marines ashore during the landings in the Marianna campaign on Saipan and Tinian.
In addition to Normandy LCVP's were used in the landings in Sicily, Anzio, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, Okinawa, Peleliu and countless other beaches in the European and Pacific theaters of operation.
Fact check. The LCVP's did not cross the Channel on their own power. They were transported aboard the Attack Transports, and Attack Cargo ships and even the lowly Landing Ship. Tank. The LST is one of the largest floating object that can go onto the shore. I was on one of the last type of LST (Newport Class) and we practice beaching the ship and controlling the waves of landing craft. The closest I have been to one is standing under it on its davits. The LCVP was also used in the war in the Pacific. The Navy ran atleast two training schools to teach the coxswains how to not get into trouble on the shoals.
Yep. This is a great series, but this episode missed the mark. The boat didn't save Britain in its hour of need. By this point in the war, it was just a question of when and at what cost victory would happen, not whether it would. There wasn't much drama over whether the Higgins' would perform at Normandy either. It had already been through its paces in tougher conditions than Omaha (e.g. Tarawa). "Saved Britain in its hour of need" would be more descriptive of the Corvettes and other ASW craft. Plus those both were largely British in design and manufacture. But I suppose the wonky looking Higgins boat made for a more interesting discussion of what seaworthiness is, so we can forgive the exaggeration.
If the boat markings are authentic, the LCVP was the 25th boat of 33 boats carried on the USS Samuel Chase (AP-56). The USS Chase participated in the landings at Algiers in Operation Torch. The ship was reclassified in 1943 as an Attack Transport (APA-26). The ship participated in the landings on Sicily (Operation Husky), Salerno (Operation Avalance), Normandy (Operation Neptune), then around the corner to South of France (Operation Dragoon) on 4 July 1944. The ship went to the Pacific for the balance of the war. The whole spectrum of landing craft and landing ships was a joint British-American venture. The LCVP was hardly a British design, not like the pilot cutter or Scottish fisherman in the prior episodes.
Thank you very interesting... could you do something similar with LCT's... Land Craft tanks... my dad was a diesel mechanic on one in the South Pacific... he was on USS LCT 86
Hopefully, you will have a third episode in which you will address the real workhorse and mover of the Second World War and others after - The LST. The LST325 working memorial to these amazing craft is, I believe, the only functional example left. Higgins boats, though useful, could not operate without the support of larger craft. you show the latest and well designed one of these support craft at the end. The 380 foot long LST could go onto the beach, disgorge huge amounts of supplies and men and then pull itself off and return to refill with supplies.
They were built in New Orleans, Louisiana. I don't think there's a trace of the plant today. In the video, at 2:05-2:09, the boat is seen riding up on the Lake Pontchartrain seawall.
Those Detroit Diesels are great. Very powerful, huge amount of torque en very low specific fuel consumption of only 135 grams per horsepower per hour. Lets not talk about the decibels....:-)
Watching these films just outside of Boston, MA I cannot help but ask the question how did my country produce such a generation? Though I surly know the answer with the lack of ANY ability or desire to come to the simplest compromise today I fear we will never see it again. Sorry to get off track....comes from livin to long I guess.
US developed the tracked landing craft for use on Japanese island attacks. Remember reading a book written by a Japanese soldier, they where waiting for Higgins type boat to stop on small reef forcing soldiers to disembark to cross lagoon, they where going to open fire then. The tracked landing craft climbed over the small reef and carried on, they had had a hard hitting firepower so could sling lead back effectively. The Japanese soldier survived with another soldier by hiding in the forest and staying there for about 30 years. Interesting survival book. I think it was Guam.
I'm sure there are more than 5 still running, They use them to transport supplies to Mackinac Island here in Northern Michigan, USA. My brother-in-law has one of his own he uses to do maintenance on his marina on Lake Superior.
It had to be crazy and scary for the men when they hit the beach and the gate dropped! Just like in the movie Saving Private Ryan the gate drops and the machine guns open up on the gates catching the men coming out of the landing craft! Those men were the bravest men in our history of wars! It took a special person to leave the boats knowing what they faced!
Ive seen a lot of DDay Footage and some of that shown I havnt seen before . Back in March last year i got to tour HMAS Adelaide that is a similar Landing launch Ship with a Helicopter deck
To that one gentleman of a thousand plus of those incredibly brave men who gave their lives,were wounded or lived to help defeat those German soldiers to free yet another country from Hitlers takeover I join the million’s so grateful for their brave service and the also the families whom had to deal with the mail delivering all of letters telling the sad news or the car pulling up to homes from the military branch sent to personally tasked with delivering the sickening news as well we all so grateful for their sacrifices and service so we are able to enjoy our own personal freedom today. Let’s not forget Russian’s own version of Hitler today now performing in the same sickening way if not even cruller than Hitler in many ways, Putin must be stopped or if surely not stop with the Ukraine.
LCVP were (and are because also now the design is so similar) amazing, theyre were able to carry a whole platoon and then evacuate wounded or equippement in seconds, were cheap but also fast (they had to cruise for less than 2 miles at 13 knots), Capable to carry a jeep or ammos as well simply loading them with the ramp... They (re)wrote the entire amphibiuos strategy of the wars. Imagine downloading 200'000 soldiers with traditional ways.. -you had to find a working harbour (such as Le Havre or Anverse) wich was well defended (and deaths will be significantly increased) - you have to carry ammos, food and renforcements for moths dropping them with C-47 (which were limited, so there was a huge risk of shortage) -you have to avoid U-boots (is better for a submarine trowing a torpido agaist ONE single cardo instead 100 little boats) -conventional ships require cranes to land jeeps and tanks (so you spend time for waiting for a free place to ashore them being vulnerable to air bombing) -LCVPs can be manufactured by low trained workers and don't require a real drydock (so you can build carriers, battleships, destroyers and cruisers in the meanwhile) , while a Liberty class ship (which could be built in vertìy little time, about a month) needed hundreds of welders and carpenteers, tons of steel, cranes, drydocks...
Andrew Jackson Higgins had to fight very hard to get the U.S. Navy to accept his design. It was based on a swamp boat he developed for the bayous and waterways of southern Louisiana.
Nowhere in this video do they specifically say if the LCVPs motored across the channel OR were transported by assault ships to the enemy coast and then launched for the invasion.
Tom, your commentary suggest that the LCVPs steamed all the way (80 miles) from England. Is this the case? I had been under the impression that they were carried on transport ships and unloaded offshore Normandy! Also can you advise the name and author of the study on LCVPs please?
They were carried on transport ships, sometimes stacked inside the larger LCM. A crane would lift off the LCVP and the LCMs would be carefully flooded on one side and slid off the deck of the ship. The Landing Craft Infantry “LCI” to my knowledge was seagoing enough to make the trek on its own though.
Hi Peter, No that photograph is correctly showing the production line for 35 foot LCVP's. The PT Boat production line was in the same building, (2 bays over) but they were only 2 abreast, and are over twice the size of the LCVP! Also the 78 foot Higgins PT boats were built on their keel from start to finish and not upside down in the Higgins Factory. (You may be thinking of the Elco factory, which built their PT boats upside down and flipped them over). Whereas this photgraph shows the much smaller LCVP 4 abreast and with their hulls still upside down. I am a crewman on fully restored and operational Higgins PT 658 located in Portland, OR so I have seen this photo numerous times and have met Jerry Strahan when he came to see our boat from New Orleans. But you have a good eye for detail since most people are not aware that Higgins even manufactured 200 PT Boats during WW2!
The US navy used LCVP’s as utility and Liberty boats to take sailors ashore in ports where we had to anchor out in the harbor. If the weather was good it wasn’t bad, but if the seas and wind had kicked up while ashore, things could get ugly. Pack it full of drunk sailors, add some salty sea spray and let her flat bottom start slapping and wait for the chain reaction of vomit to start. Good times. I really enjoyed the series.
My grandfather was on an Attack Cargo ship for Okinawa and after the war, they had a eureka boat to take them to the dock like you described. In Korea or China, my memory fails me here, he said they didn’t know the tide change was about 9 feet so they came in at high tide and stepped down to the dock. But after some drinking and carousing they were thoroughly drunk and fell off the dock down into their boat, landing in a pile below
I was fortunate to get a lift to shore in Olongapo in 1965 and you're correct it was full of guys three sheets to the breeze when we returned aboard HMAS Derwent F22
The boat owner should have let the Vet take the wheel...I dont' think he'd have done anything untoward with it...just my 2 pence. Ass that I am...I commented BEFORE THE END OF THE VIDEO!!!! The old gent handled her with grace and style!
The tunnel hull design gave the craft the ability not only to land on.the beach but to extract itself as well something other designs couldnt do. The Navy yard insisted their design was just as good so they had trials. If I remember the Navy design took over a half hour to.get off the beach something that wouldn't matter as it would of been destroyed by enemy fire. Case closed, build'em Higgins!!
Correct. It all came down to luck as to where you hit the beach and if a MG-38 or MG-42 had you lined up. There was at least one platoon that was completely wiped out when the bow ramp dropped directly in front of a German Pillbox armed with a machine gun. We are talking about roughly 30 men killed inside the landing craft within a minute or two with no chance of escape. The men all happen to have been from the same militia unit out of the same couple of towns in Pennsylvania or possibly Ohio. Naturally, the towns were devastated by the news of their loss.
@@markfryer9880 those Rangers in that movie weren't even supposed to be at Omaha...they were to be reinforcements at Pointe du Hoc....but when it appeared that assault failed they were redirected....
I love these boats like I love Jeeps, function over beauty, to really change the world as we know it. I think it’s such an icon of WW2.
The emotion on that veterans face and in his voice said everything...
Absolute bloody hero.
Wish they actually let him talk...
*BUT CHECK OUT THIS BOAT, EH?*
Tom, thank you for that wonderful presentation. My grandfather was a Merchant Marine aboard a hospital ship during the D-Day landing at Omaha beach, and he was a Higgins boat operator. I used to listen to his stories as a kid of him bringing that boat to the beach, to recover wounded Soldiers. As he lowered the ramp, he would duck down behind the controls, as the MG-42 gunfire came bouncing in. When it was filled with as many wounded as it could possibly hold, he would raise the ramp and throw that Screamin' Jimmy into full reverse, not sticking his head up, until he was a good 1/4 mile from the beach. He spent three days carrying wounded Soldiers from the beach. After Normandy was secured, he had 30 days of liberty, so he "acquired" a bicycle and, with his very broken French, pedaled his way down the western coast of France to the south and then back up, never once running into a German Soldier. He passed away on Christmas Eve, 2013, at age 88, and I miss him dearly. Thanks again.
May your Father Rest In Peace, having played his part in the Liberation of Europe from the tiranny of Nazi Germany occupation. Lest We Forget.
Mark, Melbourne, Australia.
There was a reason the men of the allied forces were called the greatest generation. As hard as they fought, as difficult as the struggle was, who would have thought that, in America, their children would be that last generation of Americans when the United States fell to the Communist Party USA on January 20, 2009.
@@servicarrider I don't think it fell, merely stumbled. It regained its footing in 2016, though, but the struggle continues, which is why we need now, more than ever, to ensure that our Republic withstands the onslaught of youthful ignorance.
The Communist Party could not hold onto Russia or China. It is not about to take over the United States. The same cannot be said for the half assed racist wanna be nazi currently in the White House.
@@gregwarner3753 Tell me one racist thing he's said.
Andrew Higgins and his Eureka boat were in the right place at the right time. It's good seeing WW2 veteran, Roy, driving the old LCVP, doing what he was trained to do 65 years ago, doing his duty and a humble man, those were scary times and brave men.
Hello my father served in the Royal Navy in combined ops in WW2. He was a doorman on an LCA on several commando raids, the Dieppe Raid as well as the invasions of North Africa and Sicily. It is a shame there are mo preserved LCAs perhaps overshadowed by the Higgins boat. Although I did see a condemned partially sunk LCA hulk in Langston harbour a few years ago but I couldn’t find anyone interested in rescuing it. Good programme. Thank you.
Nothing like the roaring howl of a wide-open Detroit. By far the most riveting episode of this excellent series.
I've only heard that sound of a two stoke detroit engine in a crane but its a wonderful sound ...
Seeing that veteran and the look in his face seeing the boat gives you chills. Thank God for brave men willing to put it all on the line
The LCVP were well proven in Pacific Landings from Guadalcanal to Okanawa. We knew what they could do and how to do it.
I was a sailor in the USN during the Vietnam War. We were called the Brown Water Navy. If an Aircraft Carrier is one end of the Navy a PBR or a LCVP or LCM (Patrol Boat River, Landing Craft, Vehicle Personell, Landing Craft, Medium) was the other. We were charged with controlling VC weapons and supplies along the Mekong River. We used the LCVP's as pick up trucks and the LCM's as bigger trucks.
When I got back IN 1967 I thought about buying a couple of these and setting up a maritime trucking service someplace with a lot of inhabited islands like the coast of Maine. Unfortunately i did not have the money or know how to get any. Besides as a Nam Vet I was not particularly popular at that time.
My dad picked a surplus 67 LCVP from the USN, and he's still using it on the coast north of Vancouver, BC. We put a cabin on it, much more comfortable in the rain here.
Well made and well done. My great uncle used one of these to get ashore on D-Day. Fortunately he was one of the lucky ones that made it all the way to Germany and then came back to his family.
Documentaries like these are so important. We cannot, should not and must not forget our past or God help us, we will repeat our mistakes.
What a pleasant surprise to have an in depth examination of this boat. I especially liked the skip demonstration. I think it went a bit off claiming that the LCVP was finally proven to be effective at Normandy. It had been used in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and all over the Pacific by then.
Thanks for educating us on a little known but important piece of military equipment . And thanks to the young men who despite being scared to death did their jobs and won us the FREEDOMS we enjoy today . All were Heroes in my book
Boats built for heroes. Well done for this episode. A great shame there are not more of them left.
a couple of years ago I visited Normandy, got to fly over the beaches and visit both commonwealth and german cemeteries .... stood on the beach near Caen and damn near burst into tears. all my relatives came back, I have german friends but sometimes shit just gets too real.
Rest in peace
All of those soldiers who died to protect the freedom of the people, who now let dirty corrupt politicians take those freedoms away, disgusting. But thank you for the great documentary, Tom.
Higgins helped us march across the world with this little boat !!!!!!!!!!!!!
while taking a cruise from Pittsburgh down to Stubenville I spotted one about 20 feet up on the riverbank...no idea how or why it got there....probably still there.....
Wonderful video, Mr. Cunliffe. Thank you for presenting the story the Higgins LCVP.
Thank you for saving a piece of history for posterity. a few of similar vehicles served the the Thousand Islands including one large enough to carry a full concrete mixer.
Shocked and saddened to learn that there are only 5 or so of these wonderful craft left in operating condition.
Thank you for a great video. I'm particularly proud of the fact that my Great Uncle was awarded the MBE for his work in designing and building Britain's Terrapins which filled the gap while waiting for DUKWs to come to the UK in WWII.
What a great series, informative and very touching! Higgin's factory was later acquired by NASA and built parts of the Saturn V rockets and later the Space Shuttle boosters for many decades, and now the new Artemis craft is being built there for the new moon program.
Tom never ceases to inform. Tremendous.
Top stuff Tom always a pleasure to hear you tell the story's with great enthusiasm
What a great little series of films this has been - I hope that there will be more to come?
In 1966 I joined the Navy and my first ship was an old WWII LST. It was the USS HICKMAN COUNTY. I was fortunate because I was chosen to be the coxswain of LCVP #1. I landed some Marines in I Corps at Cua Viet. The LCVP was fantastic and it was a lot of fun. We rigged up a large bumper on the front ramp because when we would go upriver to Saigon we used the LCVP for pusher boats t push the ship up alongside the pier. I was a blast to be dropped from the Davit when the ship was underway. Just before we hit the water I would start the boat up and as we hit the water the Bow Hook and engineman would disconnect the cables and I would peal away from the ship then after everything was normal I would travel alongside the ship till we were needed.
Too bad this show never mentioned the LCVPs were transported by larger attack transports to just off the beach... "Oh they came all the way from England to Normandy in these 36ft open-top boats..." Nope, hogwash. Just the last few miles! Amazing boats, but a team operation to be sure.
@@NightOwlModeler Do you want to hear a funny story which I was involved in? I was stationed onboard the USS Hickman County and I was the Coxswain of LCVP#1. We were in Viet Nam and when we went to Saigon it was very narrow where the Ship had to be docked and their were no Tugs. So, what we did was to hook up Very Large Bumpers on the Front Ramp. When the Bumpers were on the Ramp you could not see out of the observation cutout.
So, we were underway approaching Saigon and before got to close the LCVP would be dropped into the water. We were all in position in the boat, there was the Bow Hook, the Engineman, and me the Coxswain. Once we were in place the Davit was activated and we were slowly lowered towards the water. When we got close enough I would start the boat up and one in the water we would disconnect the cables. Once that was done I would peel away so that I could take up position traveling parallel to the Ship.
Well, in Viet Na there are some Local Fishermen who believe that evil spirits follow their boats and they try to pass off the evil spirits by cutting in front of another boat. So, I'm traveling parallel to the ship and the engine is roaring really loud and all of the sudden a papa san in a fishing boat had tried to cut in front of me. Well, the Bow Hook ran towards me and jumped on the engine cover and he was saying something. All the sudden I hit something that I did not see. It was Papa san trying to pass his evil spirits off onto me and I ran his ass over and sunk him! I never did go back or stop because I had to stay with my Ship. We eventually were able to turn the Ship and get it tied up. The rest of the crew would not let it go and they even gave me a name, 'CRASH KRUZ'!
"Children helping the mother"....the final scene in Away All Boats as they tow the ship into a safe anchorage....
@@frankpienkosky5688 That is true. I saw that movie a couple times. In Saigon we didn't have tugs and the berth was narrow so we had to us the LCVP's as pusher boats.
Growing up in New Orleans I often passed the old Higgins Plant on the Industrial Canal. It is now gone. It should be noted that Higgins also build the second most produced version of the PT boat. As for his history, and how he made his reputation and fortune as a boat builder, that is even more colorful (if the stories are true). As the stories go, during the Prohibition, Higgins would sell fast boats to the police to pursue bootleggers in the swamps. Then, shortly after the police started using their new Higgins boats, he would go to the bootleggers and sell them improved and even faster boats. Then he'd repeat the cycle.
Thanks for this series - says a German watcher!
Back in the late 70's I was an Engineman ( diesel mechanic) in the Navy stationed in Subic Bay, Philippines and worked in "boat pool". Some shipmates and I worked on what was. Called "pusher boats" and we were like a small Tug Boat in the harbor.
Basicly these boats were just like the boats in this video and moved craft around the area and even helped the Tug Boats to dock and undock the Navy ships that came into port for supplies, liberty and other things they needed.
These "pusher boats had two 671 Detroit diesels with gears and throttle controls just like the boats in the video but the bow of our boats had solid steel front with thick rubber padding that rested against the boat/ship we were moving.
Later a couple of the first class Engineman brought in an LCU from Guam's mothball fleet to get running and into service for the Marines and CB's to go across the bay on maneuvers or whatever they did.
The CO gave us two days to get it done on Friday when it arrived and had it up and running by Sunday afternoon!! That's one of my favorite memories, among many of my tour in Subic Bay!!
Thanks for the videos and for the trip down "Memory Lane" !! 🇺🇸👍🚢😁
Great program 👌🏻
Awesome 👍
Excellent video thank you!
An awesome story really well presented thank you.
This was interesting. Today I learned something, thank you!.
So great to see such great engineering and craftmanship into such a small yet vital cog of the war machine.
Very inspirational to see this made way for many generations after it.
When I went to Europe in 1972 you could still see several Landing craft rusting away on the Italian coastline as we went north from Sicily
I served as an Engineman on LCVP’s, LCM 6’s, LCM 8’s and LCPL’s in the early 70’s on the USS Shreveport. Boat crews consisted of three men. Coxswain, Bow Hook (line handler), and Engineman. We had two VP’s assigned to the ship which we carried on cradles on the O1 level. When we deployed, we would pick up other boats from Little Creek, VA when needed.
I can’t believe there are only 5 LCVP’s left. They were great boats. Withstood a lot of punishment coming on and off the beaches and in and out of the well decks when the seas were rough. I often wondered if the boats we had were at Normandy. They were WWII vintage so maybe so.
When we were underway we would climb up on the ramp, sit on the top with our legs hooked through the view port. A Leo DiCaprio moment. Kids.
Great video. I really enjoyed watching it.
Ever surf a Mike boat? Great fun.
Greg Warner - no, but that sounds like a blast too!
almost gives you the impression they sailed all the way across the channel....without mentioning the role of attack transports...even a short haul in one of these on a rough sea will have you puking your guts out...
Tom, Very good.
The LCVP was also used in Guadalcanal
. My Father was a sailor and 1st Class Machinist who piloted one of them during the first landing in Guadalcanal
.
In the late 1960s, LCVPs were still being used by both the US Navy and US Coast Guard. I served aboard the Eastwind, a Coast Guard Ice Breaker, and we had 4 LCVPs that were the ship's work boats. Every US Ice Breaker carried 4 of these boats. The boats sat in cradles on the deck in pairs with one boat on top of the other.
I was an engineer aboard a LCVP in the US Navy during the disastrous Carter administration. At the time it was practice to crew this boat with a boat officer, coxswain, engineer, and bow hook man. In a wartime situation the engineer and bow hook was expected to man a machine gun as well. This beast was a dream to run. The LCVP was actually grossly overpowered with, in my qualified opinion, the best Diesel engine ever produced, the Gray Marine/Detroit Diesel 6-71. It was almost the perfect engine for roasting chickens by wrapping them in foil and sitting then atop the supercharger or exhaust manifold.
Be cool to see you guys do a flying war boat episode.
You talk about a British landing craft built in 1939 that had a narrow front opening, and could only carry men not vehicles.
I have photographs of a British military landing craft with a full-width front opening allowing men and vehicles to be loaded and unloaded. The photographs were taken by my father Colonel Philip Denton RE., assistant director of the Anglo Canadian task force 1939 to 1945, developing landing craft, the crocodile flame thrower, pontoons and other equipment, throughout the war, and much of it built and tested near or on Lake Winnipeg, Canada. My Father died after the war when I was too young to understand what he had been doing. Sadly some years later an ignorant elder sister decided to get rid of a mountain of his documents and drawings on a bonfire. Recently I have been trying to find out all about the landing craft my father was involved in building and testing. I have written to the Royal Engineers museum in the UK, also the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa asking for information but with no reply. If anyone has any information about the British landing craft that looked similar to the US Higgins landing craft, but made in steel, not wood, with lower sides than the Higgins,, but high protruding front stanchions to winch up the front loading ramp, please contact me , Robert Denton at: firsthousepress@gmail.com
That would probably be the LC-M en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Craft_Mechanized
Hey Robert, are you based in UK or USA? I live within about 20 minutes of the royal engineers museum and would be happy to make an enquiry on your behalf if you could give some information as to what you would like to know?
There's a Landing Craft Tank (LCT 7074) that's recently been placed at the Portsmouth D-Day Museum. I think it's the last of its type in the world. I watched the engineers put it in place (it's just down the road from where I live).
ruclips.net/video/k3fc-Iq7EC0/видео.html
A Well deserved plaudit for the LCVP by Higgins, but he was so much more for WW2. Higgins also constructed PT Boats which served on both fronts for USA and for UK, and he built lots of them as well. He was a major factor in the allied victory and General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ...
The shape is similar to the Dell Quay dory. A useful little workboat.
Remember the guy driving the boat had to go back to his ship and load up another group of infantry and take them in as the second wave. The second run is done when you know what an MG-34 sounds like and can do. Brave, brave men.
Blue or brown water on the first delivery but likely red water on the 2nd and subsequent deliveries. Those drivers delivered many men to their destiny.
the MG-42 is the one you really have to fear as soon as that ramp drops....
I recall reading somewhere that Higgins bought a whole year's worth of ply form somewhere in 1939 or 40 knowing that his boat was the only solution and he was going to built them. Confidence, arrogance, who knows, but what a man.
20000 down to 5, crazy. Shows how many were either sunk, destroyed or just rotted away I guess! Cool interview with that old soldier, his story was very interesting to hear!
wooden boats don't last...the reason why the US destroyed all its PT's......
By all wartime accounts, the American GIs preferred to be ferried ashore in the British LCAs - they were more comfortable and better protected than their own LCVPs with bench seats and a double armoured door behind the smaller ramp rather than the single drop ramp of the American boats (remember Saving Pvt Ryan!) Yes it couldn't carry vehicles but it was designed as a Commando Assault boat being virtually silent from more than 25 yards away - that's what you need on a night raid! Good historical video though, many thanks!
Was a Boat Officer in a LCVP in the 80's while stationed on LST.
"Go Papa 3"
Excellent!
My father crewed these boats LCI(L) as his US army Mechanized Cav unit was trained to man these boats in the Pacific campaign. His units landing craft brought the Marines ashore during the landings in the Marianna campaign on Saipan and Tinian.
Superb!
What a fantastic show. Pity it isn't longer. You would have time for more details and perhaps more experimental archeology segments.
Havent stopped off at Beeston for awhile, nice on the Trent too :-)
Well done 👍 Sir
In addition to Normandy LCVP's were used in the landings in Sicily, Anzio, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, Okinawa, Peleliu and countless other beaches in the European and Pacific theaters of operation.
Fact check. The LCVP's did not cross the Channel on their own power. They were transported aboard the Attack Transports, and Attack Cargo ships and even the lowly Landing Ship. Tank. The LST is one of the largest floating object that can go onto the shore. I was on one of the last type of LST (Newport Class) and we practice beaching the ship and controlling the waves of landing craft. The closest I have been to one is standing under it on its davits. The LCVP was also used in the war in the Pacific. The Navy ran atleast two training schools to teach the coxswains how to not get into trouble on the shoals.
Yep. This is a great series, but this episode missed the mark. The boat didn't save Britain in its hour of need. By this point in the war, it was just a question of when and at what cost victory would happen, not whether it would. There wasn't much drama over whether the Higgins' would perform at Normandy either. It had already been through its paces in tougher conditions than Omaha (e.g. Tarawa). "Saved Britain in its hour of need" would be more descriptive of the Corvettes and other ASW craft. Plus those both were largely British in design and manufacture. But I suppose the wonky looking Higgins boat made for a more interesting discussion of what seaworthiness is, so we can forgive the exaggeration.
If the boat markings are authentic, the LCVP was the 25th boat of 33 boats carried on the USS Samuel Chase (AP-56). The USS Chase participated in the landings at Algiers in Operation Torch. The ship was reclassified in 1943 as an Attack Transport (APA-26). The ship participated in the landings on Sicily (Operation Husky), Salerno (Operation Avalance), Normandy (Operation Neptune), then around the corner to South of France (Operation Dragoon) on 4 July 1944. The ship went to the Pacific for the balance of the war. The whole spectrum of landing craft and landing ships was a joint British-American venture.
The LCVP was hardly a British design, not like the pilot cutter or Scottish fisherman in the prior episodes.
solved a problem the chinese are now facing...they're not just going to walk into Taiwan the way they did in Hong Kong...
Great D-day Museum located in the New Orleans plant.
Loose Lips Sink Ships!
Brilliant!
Thank you very interesting... could you do something similar with LCT's... Land Craft tanks... my dad was a diesel mechanic on one in the South Pacific... he was on USS LCT 86
Hopefully, you will have a third episode in which you will address the real workhorse and mover of the Second World War and others after - The LST. The LST325 working memorial to these amazing craft is, I believe, the only functional example left. Higgins boats, though useful, could not operate without the support of larger craft. you show the latest and well designed one of these support craft at the end. The 380 foot long LST could go onto the beach, disgorge huge amounts of supplies and men and then pull itself off and return to refill with supplies.
....and it carries two LCVP's in davits...both operable.....
Five foot slammers! That's Bonkers!!!
I work down by Cove Point, Maryland. That is where the US Navy trained the drivers for the landing craft.
Brilliant
They were built in New Orleans, Louisiana. I don't think there's a trace of the plant today. In the video, at 2:05-2:09, the boat is seen riding up on the Lake Pontchartrain seawall.
Intéressant
Those Detroit Diesels are great. Very powerful, huge amount of torque en very low specific fuel consumption of only 135 grams per horsepower per hour. Lets not talk about the decibels....:-)
The vessel that change the world 🌍
Watching these films just outside of Boston, MA I cannot help but ask the question how did my country produce such a generation? Though I surly know the answer with the lack of ANY ability or desire to come to the simplest compromise today I fear we will never see it again. Sorry to get off track....comes from livin to long I guess.
US developed the tracked landing craft for use on Japanese island attacks. Remember reading a book written by a Japanese soldier, they where waiting for Higgins type boat to stop on small reef forcing soldiers to disembark to cross lagoon, they where going to open fire then. The tracked landing craft climbed over the small reef and carried on, they had had a hard hitting firepower so could sling lead back effectively. The Japanese soldier survived with another soldier by hiding in the forest and staying there for about 30 years. Interesting survival book. I think it was Guam.
I'm sure there are more than 5 still running, They use them to transport supplies to Mackinac Island here in Northern Michigan, USA. My brother-in-law has one of his own he uses to do maintenance on his marina on Lake Superior.
There is one on show on a round about in shoreham, West Sussex.
@8.0 I wonder if the guy put his helmet on back to front for the camera.
It had to be crazy and scary for the men when they hit the beach and the gate dropped! Just like in the movie Saving Private Ryan the gate drops and the machine guns open up on the gates catching the men coming out of the landing craft! Those men were the bravest men in our history of wars! It took a special person to leave the boats knowing what they faced!
MG-42 had such a high rate of fire those guys had no chance.....got to fire one once...awesome!.
I just imagine someone like The LSU football coach Les Miles showing up to Britain like “use this here bayou boat”
Ive seen a lot of DDay Footage and some of that shown I havnt seen before . Back in March last year i got to tour HMAS Adelaide that is a similar Landing launch Ship with a Helicopter deck
so..what did the Brit's use in the Falklands?
And now we are in the process of giving it all away.
To that one gentleman of a thousand plus of those incredibly brave men who gave their lives,were wounded or lived to help defeat those German soldiers to free yet another country from Hitlers takeover I join the million’s so grateful for their brave service and the also the families whom had to deal with the mail delivering all of letters telling the sad news or the car pulling up to homes from the military branch sent to personally tasked with delivering the sickening news as well we all so grateful for their sacrifices and service so we are able to enjoy our own personal freedom today. Let’s not forget Russian’s own version of Hitler today now performing in the same sickening way if not even cruller than Hitler in many ways, Putin must be stopped or if surely not stop with the Ukraine.
LCVP were (and are because also now the design is so similar) amazing, theyre were able to carry a whole platoon and then evacuate wounded or equippement in seconds, were cheap but also fast (they had to cruise for less than 2 miles at 13 knots),
Capable to carry a jeep or ammos as well simply loading them with the ramp...
They (re)wrote the entire amphibiuos strategy of the wars.
Imagine downloading 200'000 soldiers with traditional ways..
-you had to find a working harbour (such as Le Havre or Anverse) wich was well defended (and deaths will be significantly increased)
- you have to carry ammos, food and renforcements for moths dropping them with C-47 (which were limited, so there was a huge risk of shortage)
-you have to avoid U-boots
(is better for a submarine trowing a torpido agaist ONE single cardo instead 100 little boats)
-conventional ships require cranes to land jeeps and tanks (so you spend time for waiting for a free place to ashore them being vulnerable to air bombing)
-LCVPs can be manufactured by low trained workers and don't require a real drydock (so you can build carriers, battleships, destroyers and cruisers in the meanwhile) , while a Liberty class ship (which could be built in vertìy little time, about a month) needed hundreds of welders and carpenteers, tons of steel, cranes, drydocks...
the LST solved that problem...
Wow, BBC productions can even license Saving Private Ryan music for a documentary, a great one that is though!
Andrew Jackson Higgins had to fight very hard to get the U.S. Navy to accept his design. It was based on a swamp boat he developed for the bayous and waterways of southern Louisiana.
The Royal Navy had been Exercising Landings since the 1920's, They had several designs not just the one mentioned here.
the disaster of the Gallipoli in ww1 reinforce the royal navy to develop dedicated landing crafts
@@aker1993 The River Clyde was an interesting concept in Landing Craft at Gallipoli.
@@aker1993 yeah...picture guys rowing ashore.....
Nowhere in this video do they specifically say if the LCVPs motored across the channel OR were transported by assault ships to the enemy coast and then launched for the invasion.
Love your sheep boots.
Great
I say thank you to the lord and honor the men who made ultimate sacrifice to rid the nazis and bring a end to WW2.
6:37 is as real as it gets.
Tm...BVery good...
Tom, your commentary suggest that the LCVPs steamed all the way (80 miles) from England. Is this the case? I had been under the impression that they were carried on transport ships and unloaded offshore Normandy! Also can you advise the name and author of the study on LCVPs please?
They were carried on transport ships, sometimes stacked inside the larger LCM. A crane would lift off the LCVP and the LCMs would be carefully flooded on one side and slid off the deck of the ship. The Landing Craft Infantry “LCI” to my knowledge was seagoing enough to make the trek on its own though.
@@johnbeauvais3159 LCM's could be carried atop LST's...and launched the way you describe...
Everybody gangster till grandad has flashbacks and restarts the war
a lot of music from saving private ryan
The production line shown in the documentary is not one for LCVP's but one for PT-boats. (PT-boat being a Patrol Torpedoboat (US equivalent of MTB))
Hi Peter, No that photograph is correctly showing the production line for 35 foot LCVP's. The PT Boat production line was in the same building, (2 bays over) but they were only 2 abreast, and are over twice the size of the LCVP! Also the 78 foot Higgins PT boats were built on their keel from start to finish and not upside down in the Higgins Factory. (You may be thinking of the Elco factory, which built their PT boats upside down and flipped them over). Whereas this photgraph shows the much smaller LCVP 4 abreast and with their hulls still upside down. I am a crewman on fully restored and operational Higgins PT 658 located in Portland, OR so I have seen this photo numerous times and have met Jerry Strahan when he came to see our boat from New Orleans. But you have a good eye for detail since most people are not aware that Higgins even manufactured 200 PT Boats during WW2!
Higgin's replaced the Elco's....and eliminated the torpedo tubes thus saving a lot of weight...they simply dropped them off the side....
The US navy used LCVP’s as utility and Liberty boats to take sailors ashore in ports where we had to anchor out in the harbor. If the weather was good it wasn’t bad, but if the seas and wind had kicked up while ashore, things could get ugly.
Pack it full of drunk sailors, add some salty sea spray and let her flat bottom start slapping and wait for the chain reaction of vomit to start. Good times. I really enjoyed the series.
My grandfather was on an Attack Cargo ship for Okinawa and after the war, they had a eureka boat to take them to the dock like you described. In Korea or China, my memory fails me here, he said they didn’t know the tide change was about 9 feet so they came in at high tide and stepped down to the dock.
But after some drinking and carousing they were thoroughly drunk and fell off the dock down into their boat, landing in a pile below
I was fortunate to get a lift to shore in Olongapo in 1965 and you're correct it was full of guys three sheets to the breeze when we returned aboard HMAS Derwent F22
The boat owner should have let the Vet take the wheel...I dont' think he'd have done anything untoward with it...just my 2 pence. Ass that I am...I commented BEFORE THE END OF THE VIDEO!!!! The old gent handled her with grace and style!
think he did at one point....
when that ramp went down................
Was that a Royal Marines cap badge? If so, why does he have a black beret and not a green one?
The tunnel hull design gave the craft the ability not only to land on.the beach but to extract itself as well something other designs couldnt do. The Navy yard insisted their design was just as good so they had trials. If I remember the Navy design took over a half hour to.get off the beach something that wouldn't matter as it would of been destroyed by enemy fire. Case closed, build'em Higgins!!
Andrew Higgins bought ALL the Philippine Nara wood he could find as the best marine plywood to build his LCV and PT boats.
Higgins based his boat on Japanese Daihatsu class landing craft.
Was it saving private Ryan? The door opened and sudden or slow death swept in.
Correct. It all came down to luck as to where you hit the beach and if a MG-38 or MG-42 had you lined up. There was at least one platoon that was completely wiped out when the bow ramp dropped directly in front of a German Pillbox armed with a machine gun. We are talking about roughly 30 men killed inside the landing craft within a minute or two with no chance of escape. The men all happen to have been from the same militia unit out of the same couple of towns in Pennsylvania or possibly Ohio. Naturally, the towns were devastated by the news of their loss.
@@markfryer9880 those Rangers in that movie weren't even supposed to be at Omaha...they were to be reinforcements at Pointe du Hoc....but when it appeared that assault failed they were redirected....
What is the average draft when fulled loaded?
high in the front...sets lower in the back....you're operating at an angle....
"port side stick, starboard side stick, move fast and clear the murder hole!"
...."over the side!"....so much for the front door....