The M116 Husky was a tracked amphibious cargo carrier/marginal terrain vehicle that served with the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

Design

The M116 was a lightweight low-silhouette vehicle designed to transport cargo or personnel over unimproved roads, loose sand, soft marshy terrain and inland waterways. Its low ground pressure of when fully loaded gave good mobility on marginal terrain. The M116 was designed by

Pacific Car and Foundry The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

as a replacement for the M76 Otter. Pacific Car and Foundry built four prototypes and then three pre-production models, however the production contract was awarded to

Blaw-Knox Blaw-Knox is a manufacturer of road paving equipment. The company was created in 1917 from the merger of Blaw Collapsible Steel Centering Company and the Knox Pressed and Welded Steel Company. Blaw-Knox was sold to new owners in 1968, changed own ...

which produced 197.

Variants

The M733 was an armored variant of the M116 with steel armour plates added to provide ballistic protection capable of stopping .30-caliber ball ammunition. The purpose of the vehicle was to provide small arms protection for infantry security elements accompanying marginal terrain vehicles. The primary armament was one

M60 machine gun The M60, officially the Machine Gun, Caliber 7.62 mm, M60, is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO Cartridge (firearms), cartridges from a disintegrating Belt (firearms), belt of M13 links. There are sev ...

, but two other pintle mounts were provided for additional M60s. The M733 could also mount the

M2 Browning The M2 machine gun or Browning .50-caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered ...

.50 caliber machine gun or an

81mm mortar An 81-mm mortar is a medium-weight mortar. It is a smooth-bore, muzzle-loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon used for long-range indirect fire support of light infantry, air assault, and airborne units across the entire front of a battalion zo ...

. The M733 was produced by Pacific Car and Foundry which built 93 with the first deliveries occurring in 1966.

History

Both the M116 and M733 served with the Marines in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. The M116E1 was placed into service in April 1969 by the 11th Motor Transport Battalion to support the

1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine (military), Marine Division (military), division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine E ...

in the low and often inundated areas south of

Danang Da Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons (, ) is the list of cities in Vietnam, fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the Western Pacific Ocean of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River (Vietnam), Hàn R ...

. Virtually unaffected by weather, the M116 had the effect of reducing reliance on helicopter support. The M733 was placed into service in August as a convoy escort.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:M116 Husky Military vehicles of the United States Tracked amphibious vehicles Armored personnel carriers of the United States Amphibious armoured personnel carriers Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s