Landing craft LCVP type – “Higgins”
Landing craft type LCVP ( English Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel – ” landing craft, personnel and equipment “) – a type of landing craft used by the US Navy amphibious forces to transport equipment and Marine troops from landing ships to the shore.
The Higgins’ Boat, as it was unofficially called, accommodated a platoon of thirty-six men, or ten soldiers and a jeep. This was the most widespread type of landing craft used by the American military.
LCVPs are the largest production type of landing craft in the history of the US Navy. A total of 22,492 boats were built for the US Navy . Another 2366 boats were built under the Lend-Lease.
LCVP boats have a bow ramp for loading / unloading assault cargo and are capable of transporting up to 36 soldiers or 1 army vehicle or up to 3.7 tons of cargo in 1 voyage from the landing ship to the shore.
During the Second World War, it became clear that it was necessary to use small shallow-draft boats with protected propellers for landing amphibious assault forces on an unequipped coastline, which could lay their bows on the coastal strip, quickly disembark the assault force, turn around and go into the open sea. They also needed a ramp so that the paratroopers could not jump from the sides into the water. Such a boat was proposed by the entrepreneur from New Orleans, Andrew Higgins, whose company produced special floating equipment for oil workers conducting exploration in the swamps of South Louisiana. Having received a contract to build boats, Higgins quickly organized their mass production, which employed up to 30 thousand workers.
General of the US Marine Corps Holland Smith , who commanded the landing operations in the Pacific , wrote that Higgins Boat “has done more for the victory in the Pacific than any other unit of military equipment”. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Europe, called Andrew Higgins “the man who won the war for us”, since without his boats “the whole strategy of the war would have been different”.
