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The landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively by the Allied forces in amphibious landings in World War II. Typically constructed from plywood , this shallow-draft, barge-like boat could ferry a roughly platoon -sized complement of 36 men to shore at 12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h).
A Higgins Industries torpedo boat plant in New Orleans, 1942. Higgins Industries was the company owned by Andrew Higgins based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.. Higgins Industries is most famous for the design and production of the Higgins boat, an amphibious landing craft referred to as LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), which was used extensively in the Allied forces' D-Day ...
The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes. More than 20,000 were built, by Higgins Industries and licensees. [2] Typically constructed from plywood, this shallow-draft, barge-like boat could ferry a platoon-sized complement of 36 men to shore at 9 knots (17 km/h).
These LCPL, dubbed the 'Higgins Boats', were reviewed and passed by the U.S. Naval Bureau of Construction and Repair. Soon, the Higgins boats were developed to a final design with a ramp – the LCVP, and were produced in large numbers. The boat was a more flexible variant of the LCPR with a wider ramp.
It could carry 36 soldiers, and over 23,000 boats were produced during World War II. A larger version, originally classified as a "tank lighter" came on its heels, the precursor of the LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanized). With the help of the Higgins boat, armies could unload across open beaches instead of at ports, which were heavily guarded.
Four boat units, each with 24 landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP), were formed under the command of Commander William J. Whiteside, one each for the First, Third and Ninth Armies, plus a reserve unit, and were transported from the UK to Le Havre, France, on the British dock landing ships HMS Oceanway and Northway and 45 of the larger ...
The Higgins boat depicted in the photograph had departed from the attack transport USS Samuel Chase about 10 miles (8.7 nmi; 16 km) from the coast of Normandy at around 5:30 am. Waves continuously broke over the boat's square bow, and the soldiers inside were drenched in cold ocean water. [4]
The small boat company provided regular coastal and island service to bases in the Aleutian and Pacific Islands to supply food and equipment transported by small coastal and inter-island vessels and water craft that were under 200 feet or under 1,000 gross tons of the following vessel types.