Higgins Industries
Higgins Industries was the company owned by Andrew Higgins based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Higgins is most famous for the design and production of the Higgins boat, an amphibious landing craft referred to as LCVP, which were used extensively in D-Day Invasion of Normandy. Higgins was also one of the manufacturers of PT boats, and produced the first American airborne lifeboat, the model A-1 lifeboat.
Andrew Higgins also owned the Higgins Lumber and Export Co. and Higgins Aircraft.
Before World War Two, Higgens got its big start with the design and production of small shallow draft boats that were designed to operated in the shallow marsh areas common to Louisiana. These small but fast boats were called Eureka Boats and Spoonbills and could impact partially submerged logs and not suffer damage. The propeller was partially enclosed in a tunnel to protect it against submerged objects. The Spoonbills was the first design used for a personnel landing craft used by the US Navy, the LCPL before the famous and much improved Higgens LCVP was offered. These were the landing craft that were main type used on the invasion of Guadalcanal. Unfortunately, these first primitive landing craft required the landing party to go over the sides to exit the craft exposing them to enemy fire. But later in the war they were found extremely successful for combat engineer units, rescue, etc.[1]
Higgins Industries expanded rapidly to meet military needs during World War II, going from a single plant employing fewer than 75 people before the war to 7 plants employing more than 20,000 workers by 1943.[2] Higgins employed the first fully integrated working force of women and men, African Americans and whites in New Orleans.[3]
In 1964, Dwight D. Eisenhower said to historian Stephen Ambrose: "[Andrew Higgins] is the man who won the war for us. If Higgins had not designed and built those landing craft, we never would have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."[3]
One of the several Higgins factories formerly around New Orleans would in 1961 become NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility.
[edit] References
- ^ "At Home A Float, part 2" Popular Mechanics, September 1937
- ^ Archive of D-Day Museum. Higgins.
- ^ a b Sidey, Hugh. Time, June 13, 1944. "The Home Front." Retrieved on September 10, 2009.
[edit] External links
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