The Boats That Built Britain - WWII Landing Craft - Part 1.

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  • Опубликовано: 19 сен 2020
  • Looking more like a skip than a boat, the LCVP, or Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel, won't win any prizes for beauty. Yet the craft did more to win World War II than any other piece of machinery. There were once over 20,000 of these little boats, but only a handful remain. Sailor and writer Tom Cunliffe puts one of them through its paces and finds out how the boat was developed for one momentous day in 1944.

Комментарии • 128

  • @briangarrow448
    @briangarrow448 3 года назад +40

    Modern versions of landing craft are very popular in Alaska. They can be used to place vehicles and motorized equipment on gravel and sand beaches where no wharf is available.

  • @pauldonnelly910
    @pauldonnelly910 2 года назад +6

    Steven Ambrose told a great story about D-Day -- one soldier had some experience at sea (a commercial fisherman, I think), who got into a landing craft headed for the beach: basically driving a brick rolling side to side, through the English Channel. After a few minutes of puking over the side, he turned and shouted up to the Navy man steering it: "Tell that Higgins son of a bitch he ain't got NOTHING to be proud of."

  • @jackcameback
    @jackcameback 3 года назад

    I thought this was a BBC documentary - it's that good !!! blew me away

  • @yellowbelly8402
    @yellowbelly8402 3 года назад +11

    World record "Fastest Skip on water"

  • @andyrbush
    @andyrbush 3 года назад +1

    Quite fascinating.

  • @grancito2
    @grancito2 3 года назад +2

    Amusing to see the expressions of the people on the shore.

  • @totilalauterwald9408
    @totilalauterwald9408 3 года назад +5

    I was in one of them when we attacked the beach at an island in Prince Willian sound Alaska. After the Valdez oilspill.

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      in my town a lot of people arrive at the ball park and football stadium by boat...would seem perfect for depositing a bunch of drunks onshore...

  • @southamptonandoperationove7701

    Very useful.

  • @formerparatrooper
    @formerparatrooper Год назад

    I can tell you something else that saved Britain. America, whether you want to accept that or not is up to you.

  • @hugueseliard7105
    @hugueseliard7105 Год назад +1

    To Lee B: if I may you should check your source; the British L.C.A. has never been D-Day's standard landing craft, at least in term of number used. If I'm correct on June 6, 1944 some 1,100 LCVP's were used on the 5 landing beaches in Normandy, to be compared with 450 approx. British LCA'S. Knowing that the British also used a substantial number of American VP's in their landing waves on Gold, Juno & Sword beaches.

  • @panzerdeal8727
    @panzerdeal8727 3 месяца назад

    Torch, 42, Guadalcanal campaign 42, New Guinea campaign 43, Tarawa 43, Italian campaigh 43 [Sicialy] marianas 44, marshalls 44, Normandy 44, Toulon 44, Phillipenes 44 Iwo Jima 45, Okinawa 45....Quite a list.

  • @leongt1954
    @leongt1954 3 года назад +4

    Saw a WWII landing craft laying on a beach the first time I went to the Philippines back in 1989 it was covered in bullet holes

  • @bobcohoon9615
    @bobcohoon9615 2 месяца назад

    They were also up against German obstructions in the waters near the beaches of D-Day , crossed steel beams ,concrete .I heard that many craft had to unload in water 5-6 feet deep. The person I talked to said he held his breath and kept walking till his head broke the surface ,but many people drowned ,on top of the fierce fire coming at them

  • @Cobwobbler
    @Cobwobbler 3 года назад

    Hey @Aquaholic you need to do more Skip reviews...

  • @ruaraidhmcdonald-walker9524
    @ruaraidhmcdonald-walker9524 3 года назад

    That an FJ12 Tom? Great stuff!

  • @fourfortyroadrunner6701
    @fourfortyroadrunner6701 3 года назад

    The stern of that dumbstercraft sure as hell has little freeboard!!!

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      they would later add armor and double the guns...those guys were pretty exposed...check out the movie "Away All Boats"...free on here......

  • @erniemiller1953
    @erniemiller1953 3 года назад +1

    The box stays fairly stable when tipped sideways, is because it adapts to a V shape.

  • @swaghauler8334
    @swaghauler8334 3 года назад +5

    Britain: "We have a moat and we're not afraid to use it!"

    • @inglesconalan5360
      @inglesconalan5360 3 года назад

      It doesn't serm to be working very well at the moment. Ask Nigel F (he who must not be named).

    • @Dave_Sisson
      @Dave_Sisson 3 года назад +1

      That is actually the state slogan of Tasmania during "these difficult times". Isolating themselves from the Australian continent has kept them disease free and allowed them to lead an almost normal life.

  • @zsoltpapp3363
    @zsoltpapp3363 3 года назад +2

    I cannot understand why they didnt use smoke cover for the landings. These boxes became death traps for many, they were immediately wiped out by the MGs after they dropped the ramps.

    • @quentintin1
      @quentintin1 3 года назад

      because the idea of the death trap came mostly from the US landing at Omaha, where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      the MG-42 was a nasty piece of work when pre-sighted...you were a sitting duck when that ramp dropped...

  • @drmodestoesq
    @drmodestoesq 3 года назад +8

    The dumpster company got a massive free advert.

  • @mikehillsgrove1612
    @mikehillsgrove1612 3 года назад +5

    So, a dumpster makes a a decent landing craft.

  • @Lee-70ish
    @Lee-70ish 2 года назад +2

    The Higgins boat were not the standard assault craft used on D Day the majority were the British Thorneycroft LCA (2000 in total being built)
    And were used on all the beaches including Pont Du Hoc, Utah and Omaha as well as the Canadian and British sectors 800 in total

  • @drmodestoesq
    @drmodestoesq 3 года назад +4

    When you see these shore emplacements...You have to marvel at how underutilized the strategic bombing forces and the Royal Navy were. 2000 heavy bombers and dozens of battleships should have turned these landing areas into a moonscape devoid of all life before the landings occurred.

    • @quentintin1
      @quentintin1 3 года назад +2

      bunkers are very hard targets to destroy, they absolutely used air and sea bombardment to target the installations, but there's only so much you can do against a building specially designed to endure bombardment

    • @LizzieShmizzie
      @LizzieShmizzie 2 года назад

      Bunkers are designed to withstand such a thing, they learned their lesson from the 1910s.

    • @FlorenceSlugcat
      @FlorenceSlugcat 10 месяцев назад

      Oh they did. Youd be amazed by how many ships were behind the infantry on D-Day.
      Seven battleships were along the coast, bombarding the fortifications, along with 25 cruisers(5 heavy and 20 light). They also had the support of 139 destroyers, and two monitors.

  • @jamesmurray8558
    @jamesmurray8558 4 дня назад

    The Courtney's of Stehekin had one to bring horses and hay to their ranch.

  • @kyleh3615
    @kyleh3615 3 года назад +4

    There is one for sale here in Illinois
    I saw it on marketplace when I was looking for Jeep parts

    • @General_Eisenhower1945
      @General_Eisenhower1945 3 года назад +1

      Is there a link?

    • @kyleh3615
      @kyleh3615 3 года назад

      @@General_Eisenhower1945 id have to dick around on marketplace to find it
      I was just searching 'WW2' in Illinois

  • @samuel10125
    @samuel10125 3 года назад +5

    I'm surprised he didn't look at the British version of the Landing craft because only the Americans used the LCPs

    • @COIcultist
      @COIcultist 3 года назад

      Thank you. I looked at this film, I've tried to find the classic film of British troops first D-Day landing which shows the differing nature of the two landing craft. Alas, I can't find what I want. This is a very poor programme, did this "Expert" on vessels know even less than I do?

    • @CarburetorThompson
      @CarburetorThompson 3 года назад

      I think it’s a matter of what he could get his hands on to film with. I’d imagine the British ones are a bit rarer with there limited and recently ravaged industry during that period.

    • @allencasey6981
      @allencasey6981 3 года назад +2

      Maybe because only 2000 of the British LCA's were made while 23,000 of the American designed LCP's were produced. The LCP's had a bigger impact on Britain's future.

    • @CarburetorThompson
      @CarburetorThompson 3 года назад +1

      @Allen Casey I think this is a good explanation, also the British used LCPs as well there is a British lcp driver in part 2

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      @@CarburetorThompson perfect delivery system for the little Bren gun carrier....

  • @C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13
    @C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13 Год назад

    His moustache is reassuring.

  • @TheDrakanMaster124
    @TheDrakanMaster124 3 года назад +2

    Could you imagine you just at the marina and you see a trash bin floating with people in it like what are you even say at that point

  • @derekhieb7458
    @derekhieb7458 3 года назад

    Engine is Detroit diesel 6-71 ( 6 cly, 71 cu.in./cyl.) 165hp.

  • @bulgingbattery2050
    @bulgingbattery2050 Год назад

    When they landed on the beach, as soon as the door dropped, they would be met with a volley of machinegun fire.
    Allied troops would jump over the sides of the boat in order to avoid getting shot.

  • @edmctug8800
    @edmctug8800 3 года назад

    Point of Information, Powered by a gray marine diesel 671 cubic inch cylinder, low block, 671 detroits were the high block modern version post WW2

  • @springtrap-1093
    @springtrap-1093 3 года назад

    Every boat at Dunkirk: am i a joke to you

  • @melvillesperryn9268
    @melvillesperryn9268 3 года назад +2

    What about the LCA - the US Rangers preferred it to the Higgins boat

    • @stephenchappell7512
      @stephenchappell7512 3 года назад

      True but it wasn't a case of preference it was more a case of being more familiar with the LCA due to joint training and exercises with British Commandos in Scotland and Ireland. It doesn't end there either as the Rangers LCA's were also mainly crewed by RN personnel.

    • @melvillesperryn9268
      @melvillesperryn9268 3 года назад

      @@stephenchappell7512 I think the armour plating on the LCA was a big factor

    • @stephenchappell7512
      @stephenchappell7512 3 года назад

      @@melvillesperryn9268 That is true however you have to balance that with the fact that the LCA was much more awkward to disembark from.
      It was the Americans due to experience gained though countless operations in the Pacific who led the way in the theatre of amphibious operations

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      Rangers were trained by British commandos....partial to their equipment and tactics...

  • @nomdeplume798
    @nomdeplume798 3 года назад

    An FJ1200 3CX. I've got one of those

  • @peterforden5917
    @peterforden5917 3 года назад +8

    how come noone talks about the armoured british landing craft, just this american made of plywood?

    • @spockspock
      @spockspock 3 года назад +1

      Sheer weight of numbers?

    • @peterforden5917
      @peterforden5917 3 года назад +1

      @@spockspock probably :/ but oldsoldiers who I've met said with their extra protection they were a Godsend, and I've heard similar things said by GI's that used them, it just seems sad that when we had our own version battle designed and hardened fom Norway down, on the other hand the american boat was very good just unlike ours it was armourd, pity we dont extol it :)

    • @spockspock
      @spockspock 3 года назад

      peter forden i have no doubt any added protection would have been appreciated greatly by those who were placed in harm’s way. I find modern analogies in quantity over quality, US Marines and British Army planning on doing without MBTs due to the technological threats now arrayed to defeat big armor.

    • @peterforden5917
      @peterforden5917 3 года назад +1

      @@spockspock despite the fact that tank hs a fear factor that outweighs even that of a screaming tommy charging at you with a bayonet belly high..duing the British policing of Iraq after the last war a 6 man patrol ran out of ammo and did what theyd been taught...the Bayonet, its effectiveness resulted in 40 dead insurgents and 6 live Tommies, those same 40 would never have dared take on a challenger, but hey! what are soldiers lives to a politician? perhaps the gutted iraqispiled on their doorsteps would make a better argument, talk is cheap...weapons and peace are not.

    • @piersyf2119
      @piersyf2119 3 года назад +3

      What annoys me is the show is called "the boats that built Britain" but it's about an American boat and ignores the actual British LCA.

  • @allans7281
    @allans7281 Год назад

    I don’t understand this design where the gate opens in front and the allies are sitting ducks

  • @mrtrailesafety
    @mrtrailesafety 3 года назад +3

    Dumpster Regatta!

  • @raymondnoya5653
    @raymondnoya5653 3 года назад +1

    Flat bottom barge can carry lots of weight

  • @s.simsmamasboy
    @s.simsmamasboy 3 года назад

    Plz ...I love taking a break n watch BOAT YARD...that floating kitchen ? ? ? Next...Gravy Boat

  • @MonkPetite
    @MonkPetite 3 года назад

    😂 thats skip.. awesome

  • @SirDamned
    @SirDamned 3 года назад

    The Normans came over in these.

  • @DataWaveTaGo
    @DataWaveTaGo 3 года назад +3

    Britannia Savoirs list - short form
    LCVP the boat that saved Britain
    Spitfire the plane that saved Britain
    Hurricane the other plane that saved Britain
    Lancaster the other other plane that saved Britain
    Mosquito the other other other plane that saved Britain
    Churchill the man that saved Britain
    RV Jones the other man that saved Britain
    Dunkirk the evacuation that saved Britain
    Battle of Britain the fight that saved Britain
    --- make your own Britannia Savoirs list

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      think you're ignoring the LST...Churchill was reported to have said "Apparently victory depends on something called an LST"...that was a British design prompted by Dunkirk...but the LCVP did enable you to get in and out fast...

  • @peterjeffery8495
    @peterjeffery8495 Месяц назад

    My Dad served in the RCN and RN. He piloted one of those 20,000 LCVP's on Gold Beach making 16 runs between the transport ship and the shore on D-Day. He also saw duty onboard an LST making landings in Sicily and North Africa as well as France. All ships too ugly to bear the name of anyplace or anyone who was reputable.

  • @declangallagher1448
    @declangallagher1448 3 года назад +17

    Ah yes the proud British naval tradition of going somewhere and saying "Mine"

    • @Chilly_Billy
      @Chilly_Billy 3 года назад +9

      And the world was generally better for it.

    • @mumblbeebee6546
      @mumblbeebee6546 3 года назад +4

      Ah yes, and of course no one ever crossed the nasty North Sea to invade the isles, eh? :)

    • @sethmullins8346
      @sethmullins8346 3 года назад +1

      Just like the brits to talk about an American boat like they did anything but put them together and use them a couple times. It doesn't even use a British engine. Detroit is an American company. "OUR BRITISH HANDS ASSEMBLED THESE FROM THE PARTS WE GOT FROM BIG DADDY AMERICA"

    • @sethmullins8346
      @sethmullins8346 3 года назад +1

      The brits scream loud about being able to defend an island's home territory from a logistic and range limited Luftwaffe.

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      @@Chilly_Billy British colonies generally tended to fare better when it came time for self-rule...

  • @jetdriver
    @jetdriver 3 года назад +6

    While the importance of the LCVP Higgins boat is undeniable in history is seems a very poor choice for a series on “The boats that built Britain”. The survival of the UK wasn’t predicated on a successful invasion for one. And the series doesn’t seem as it’s going to focus on other warships that truly did play a pivotal role. Like the convoy escorts for example. The video is very very well done certainly. And as I noted the importance of the Higgins boat is undeniable. But a boat that built Britain?
    No.

    • @benwilson6145
      @benwilson6145 3 года назад +3

      Agree , about 2000 Landing Craft Assault (LCA) were built in the UK, a better subject for boats of Britain.

    • @fernandopratesi5378
      @fernandopratesi5378 3 года назад +1

      Some have argued that the survival of Britain did indeed depend on a successful invasion. I’m a complete amateur though - any experts out there??

    • @samuel10125
      @samuel10125 3 года назад +3

      @@fernandopratesi5378 No expert but I'm sure the Battle of Britain secured our sovereignty against the nazi war machine.

    • @voxromantic3340
      @voxromantic3340 3 года назад +1

      Jet Driver and those British built concrete piers and breakwaters!!!!!!

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад +1

      @@fernandopratesi5378 well they were getting bombed and rocketed right up to near the end of the war...so putting an army ashore was the only way to put an end to that..

  • @SimpsonOutboards
    @SimpsonOutboards 3 года назад +8

    One German just watched this video... 😉👎

    • @c3aloha
      @c3aloha 3 года назад +2

      B the end of Battle of Britain as the German soldiers turn in the life jackets 😂

  • @tomastomas533
    @tomastomas533 Год назад +1

    landingcraft loading 10 tractor or 80mt cpo

  • @maxflight777
    @maxflight777 3 года назад +3

    How can people give this a thumbs down ? entitled Millennials who cant appreciate duty or commitment ?

    • @samuel10125
      @samuel10125 3 года назад

      It's that the video is really when British troops landed at their beach heads they used British made LCAs not the American one.

    • @wor53lg50
      @wor53lg50 Год назад

      Why!!, the thumbnail for one, second it aint even thornycroft, enough said...

  • @sovietblobfish2330
    @sovietblobfish2330 3 года назад

    You just gotta take that to a beach and capture the life guard tower

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      or fill it full of babes...imagine that hitting the beach!...kinda' funny when the Marines hit the beach at Da Nang, only to be greeted by locals handing out flowers...

  • @Thanhnganaviation
    @Thanhnganaviation 7 месяцев назад

    this ship can carry the tank

  • @cannonsovercharged
    @cannonsovercharged 3 года назад

    Would you like a spot of teaaaaaaa?

  • @zerofox7347
    @zerofox7347 Год назад

    Did the skip company find out about this? 😂

  • @brandonb8543
    @brandonb8543 3 года назад +1

    God bless the United States! American designed landing craft. Americans running out guns a blazing on D day. God bless all the men from all the nations who stopped that horror!

    • @trythinking6676
      @trythinking6676 3 года назад

      Only to have to fight that here and now. We dodged a bullet, but gotta stay viligent.

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      @@trythinking6676 any country that's an island better damn well have a navy....

  • @Cartoonman154
    @Cartoonman154 2 года назад

    More like 'The Boats that defended Britain'

  • @c3aloha
    @c3aloha 3 года назад

    Brute Krulak had photographed a similar Japanese landing craft prior to the war for intel and found it later filed away with a comment “sent by some crackpot out in China”. 😂

    • @a.l.gardner5914
      @a.l.gardner5914 3 года назад

      True; LT Victor H. Kurlak USN took the photograph of a Dai-Hatsu 14 M type landing craft at Shanghai in 1937 while observing Japanese Landing Observations (the reference book is "Across the Reef" by Victor J. Croizat; ISBN 0-7137-1894-3). Higgins was shown the photograph in April 1941 by MAG Linsert (USMC?) Secretary of the Equipment Board. So the original idea or concept of the bow ramp was not Mr. Higgins', but his willingness to except it as an innovation, do the work to re-engineer his design, and come back in short order with a new improved version 8 or 7 months before Pearl Harbour is kind of one of those small facts lost or burried in the history of WWII. Especially when you know it was the Japanese landing craft with a front bow ramp that was the inspriation or answer to getting men on the beach. This one solution would be applied to the larger craft to follow.

    • @frankpienkosky5688
      @frankpienkosky5688 2 года назад

      Marines didn't have these at Guadalcanal...but the Army did..."The Thin Red Line"....

  • @jebise1126
    @jebise1126 3 года назад

    their showing difference in hull is kind of disaster

  • @patricktheplumber5482
    @patricktheplumber5482 3 года назад +4

    Built Britain lol ! Hmm I think saved Britain would be more accurate

  • @wor53lg50
    @wor53lg50 Год назад

    Took the fight to enemy, but built britain!!!! I very much doubt it...... That should be changed...and to rub insult to injury you show a bloody yankee craft instead of thornycroft... Utter nonsence...