LCPL
 This boat, an early example from the Eureka Tug-Boat Company, was the progenitor of thousands of Second World War landing craft |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Landing Craft Personnel (Large) |
| Builders: | Higgins Industries, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA |
| Operators: |  United States Navy Royal Navy Royal Canadian Navy Royal Australian Navy Royal New Zealand Navy Indian Navy |
| Preceded by: | Various ship's boats and cutters |
| Succeeded by: | LCP(R), LCVP |
| Subclasses: | Royal Navy model US model |
| Built: | 1940-1943 |
| Active: | 0 |
| Preserved: | 0 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Landing craft |
| Displacement: | US Model: 13,500 pounds (light), 21,600 pounds (loaded) |
| Tons burthen: | −-1,480,000 pounds (−635 kg) |
| Length: | 36 ft 8/12 in |
| Beam: | 10 ft 10/12 in |
| Draught: | 2 ft 6 in aft. light 3 ft 6 aft. loaded |
| Ramps: | 0 |
| Propulsion: | 1x Hall-Scott 250 hp gasoline engine or 1x Kermath 225 hp gasoline engine or 1x Gray 165-225 hp diesel engine or 1x Superior 150 hp diesel engine |
| Speed: | RN model: 9-11 kts. (max) US model: 8 kts. (fully loaded) |
| Range: | RN model: 120 miles at full speed (loaded) US model: 50 miles (gasoline), 130 miles (diesel) |
| Troops: | RN Model: 25 troops US model: 36 troops |
| Crew: | 3 - coxswain, two seamen/machine gunners, plus 1 officer per group of 3 boats |
| Armament: | US Model: 2x Browning.30 cal. machine guns |
| Armor: | 3x 10 lb. plates on bulkheads (fore of the .30 cal. cockpits, of the troop well and the engine space. |
| Notes: | from US Navy ONI 226 Allied Landing Craft and Ships, US Government Printing Office, 1944. |
The Landing Craft Personnel (Large) was a landing craft used extensively in the Second World War. Its primary purpose was to ferry troops from transport ships to attack enemy-held shores. The craft derived from a prototype designed by the Eureka Tug-Boat Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. During the war it was manufactured in boatyards in and around New Orleans. Typically constructed of pine planks and plywood, and fitted with some armor plate, this shallow-draft boat with a crew of 3, could ferry an infantry platoon of 36 to shore at 8 knots (13 km/h). Men generally entered the boat by walking over a gangplank from the boat deck of their troop transport as the LCP(L) hung from its davits. When loaded, the LCP(L) was lowered into the water. Soldiers exited the boat by jumping or climbing down from the craft’s bow or sides.
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[edit] Origins
In 1936, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) conducted experiments with new types of boats, lighters, and launches to land troops. Many craft were considered coming from the Navy’s Bureau as well as commercial designs. Included in these experiments were some prototypes with ramps and others with rollers.[1] A few boats were overwhelmed by the surf and others did not prove practical, but the 28 feet (9 m) craft designed by the Eureka Tug-Boat Company of New Orleans, was both a good sea boat and superior at beaching. The craft was based on the company’s 1926 spoonbill-bowed craft used by trappers in the Bayous of the Mississippi delta.[2] The boat’s draft was rather shallow, 18 inches (46 cm), and it could cut through vegetation and slide over logs without ruining its propeller. It could also run up on shore and extract itself damage-free. As part of sales demonstrations, boats were often run up on the seawalls of Lake Ponchartrain (the craft was also infamous among law enforcement along the Gulf Coast as a vehicle for rum-runners).[3][4] The general lines of the boat were accepted by the USMC and in September 1940 and Andrew J. Higgins who ran the Eureka Tug-Boat company was contracted to build a slightly larger craft to carry 24 fully equipped troops. He produced the 32 feet (10 m) Eureka or Higgins boat. [5] This was the craft first used in American Fleet Landing Exercises in 1941.
Before the USMC received their boats the British Admiralty’s need for a raiding craft brought the first enquiries for an even larger boat. Purchasing agents from Britain had become aware of Andrew Higgins’ Eureka; enquiries were made and a film of the Eureka was sent to the Admiralty in London. The German occupation of France had changed British procurement plans dramatically. The Admiralty’s Inter-Service Training and Development Centre wanted a 36 ft 8 in (11.18 m) craft, intending the boat to carry a full British army platoon and two or three attached signallers or assault engineers. An initial order for 136 was placed and the first 50 were delivered to the Britain in October 1940. [6] Higgins had already built these boats on spec and is said to have preferred this larger craft. Further US procurements were of this larger boat and as the LCP(L) was the forerunner of all American LCP types.[7]
Along with the LCVP, LCM and PT Boat, it was a mainstay of the fighting Navy in World War II.
The LCP(L)s were also known as Eurekas or R boats. They were American-made landing craft that could carry as many as 36 troops. Unlike later landing craft, the LCP(L)s did not have ramps at the bow so the troops had to jump over the sides to get out. The boats themselves were made of plywood but had armored bulkheads. They were invented by Louisiana native Andrew Higgins before the war and were designed with a shallow draft to operate in swamps. But, it turned out that the design was also excellent for operating on shallow beaches. [8]
[edit] External links
- USS Rankin (AKA-103): LCPL
- "At Home A Float, part 2" Popular Mechanics, September 1937 photos of the early civilian Eureka Boats with the spoonbill bows
[edit] Notes
- ^ Fergusson, p.37
- ^ Ladd, 1976, p.24
- ^ http://www.ussrankin.org/id39.htm
- ^ Fergusson, p.
- ^ Maund, pp. 62-63
- ^ Ladd, p. 24
- ^ Ladd, p. 24
- ^ DeFelice, p. 120
[edit] References
- DeFelice, Jim Rangers at Dieppe New York: Berkley Caliber, The Penguin Group, 2008, ISBN 978-0-425-21921-8
- Fergusson, Bernard The Watery Maze; the story of Combined Operations, Holt, New York, 1961.
- Ladd, JD Assault From the Sea: 1939-1945, Hippocrene Books, Inc., New York, 1976. ISBN 0-88254-392-X
- Lund, Paul, and Ludlam, Harry War of the Landing Craft, New English Library, London 1976. ISBN 0-450-03039-3
- Maund, LEH Assault From the Sea, Methuen & Co. Ltd., London 1949.
- US Navy ONI 226 Allied Landing Craft and Ships, US Government Printing Office, 1944.
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