A Royal Marine LCVP Landing Craft MOD 45150169

A Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel or Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) is any of a variety of amphibious

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...

designed to transport troops or armoured vehicles from ship to shore during

amphibious landing Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...

United Kingdom

The designation was first used in British service for the LCVP Mk2s introduced with the two ''Fearless'' class amphibious transport docks, the role having previously been carried out by the Landing Craft Assault developed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. They are manned and operated by 1 Assault Group Royal Marines.Royal Marines - Landing Craft
royalnavy.mod.uk, Retrieved 15 June 2014

United States

The American version of the LCVP, or Higgins boat was used extensively in amphibious landings in World War II. 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.Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II,'' Random House, New York, NY. . pp. 204-206 Typically constructed from

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

, this shallow-draft, barge-like

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on i ...

could ferry a

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...

-sized complement of 36 men to shore at 9

knots A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines. Knot may also refer to: Places * Knot, Nancowry, a village in India Archaeology * Knot of Isis (tyet), symbol of welfare/life. * Minoan snake goddess figurines#Sacral knot Arts, entertainme ...

(17 km/h). Men generally entered the boat by climbing down a

cargo net A cargo net is a type of net. It is usually square or rectangle, but sometimes round, made of thick rope, with cinch ropes extending from the corners, and in some designs, the edges. It is named for its use in transferring cargo to and from sh ...

hung from the side of their troop transport; they exited by charging down the boat's bow ramp.

Australia

Since 1993, the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister o ...

has operated four Australian-designed and built Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel (similar in size and concept to the World War II LCVP) from the landing ship, heavy and replenishment oiler . These aluminum craft were built by Geraldton Boat Builders and can carry up to 36 personnel or a

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rove ...

with a half-ton trailer. They are maintained for the RAN by the firm

DMS Maritime DMS Maritime, formerly Defence Maritime Services, is a company providing port services to the Australian Defence Force and Marine Unit. It is a subsidiary of Serco. History Defence Maritime Services was founded in 1997 as a 50:50 joint ventur ...

. As of 2007, ''T 4'' was held in reserve at the naval base , ''T 5'' and ''T 6'' were carried by ''Tobruk'', and ''T 7'' was embarked on ''Success''. The craft remained in service as of 2015.

Others

Other countries with naval resources may also have LCVPs. For example, the Italian ship ''San Giusto'' is recorded as having a complement of these. The

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack subma ...

's supply ship

MS Asterix MV ''Asterix'' (formerly MS ''Asterix'', MS ''Amorito'', MS ''Neermoor'' and MS ''Cynthia'') is a Canadian commercial container ship. It was purchased by Federal Fleet Services as part of Project Resolve, and was later converted into a supply sh ...

is equipped with 2 LCVP.

References

{{Authority control Ship types Landing craft

United Kingdom

United States

Australia

Others

See also

References