# How did they get the landing craft from England to Normandy?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 8, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547 "2015-07-08T04:18:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/1 "2015-07-08T04:18:47Z")
I’m talking about how they got the Tom Hanks,[Higgins Boats](https://www.google.com/search?q=higgins+boat&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=MqKcVbm-JZGqogTr0Y7YAQ&ved=0CDAQsAQ) over across the Chanel.
I thought maybe a[n LST](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Ship,_Tank), but clearly, that one needs to be grounded as well.
How’d they do that?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/2 "2015-07-08T04:51:57Z")
It was LST’s. Each LST could carry six LCVP’s.
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### Author:  [@Obtenebrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obtenebrate)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/3 "2015-07-08T04:52:24Z")
They sailed them. It required extremely good weather, but those craft are seaworthy if the ocean is relatively calm. Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear sailed a toyota pickup with an outboard motor attached across the channel. As to the landing itself, it was a beach, they pointed the right end at it and gunned the engine, everyonr hopped out into the water.
If you needed a more specific answer, you’ll need to make the question more specific.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/4 "2015-07-08T04:57:04Z")
They loaded them in ports in Southern England, met up in a giant convoy just southeast of the Island of Wight, and then split up into five different groups and crossed the channel to their respective beaches.
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### Author:  [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/5 "2015-07-08T04:57:25Z")
Meet the [Attack Transport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_transport). Specifically, [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Henrico_%28APA-45%29) participated in the Normandy landings (at Omaha Beach).
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/6 "2015-07-08T06:43:37Z")
> [@Obtenebrate](#):
>
> They sailed them. It required extremely good weather, but those craft are seaworthy if the ocean is relatively calm. Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear sailed a toyota pickup with an outboard motor attached across the channel. As to the landing itself, it was a beach, they pointed the right end at it and gunned the engine, everyonr hopped out into the water.
>
> If you needed a more specific answer, you’ll need to make the question more specific.
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#):
>
> They loaded them in ports in Southern England, met up in a giant convoy just southeast of the Island of Wight, and then split up into five different groups and crossed the channel to their respective beaches.
Not all of them. This [passage](https://books.google.com/books?id=yMi1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT131&lpg=PT131&dq=lcvp+channel+crossing&source=bl&ots=deQkNktUbK&sig=myyoq0UTiWtNv4Wb2PVqto3Lx7U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwA2oVChMIxqWGxfXKxgIVQ6GACh1MMA2k#v=onepage&q=lcvp%20channel%20crossing&f=false) in _The Far Shore_ describes how LCVP’s and troops were brought across the Channel in larger ships and then the troops were loaded into the LCVP’s twelve miles off the shore of Normandy.
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/7 "2015-07-08T08:41:32Z")
Over the Channel is one thing - 20 miles Dover to Calais. But Portsmouth to Normandy is 100 miles in a straight line and a straight line is highly unlikely. Any further down the South Coast towards Plymouth could add another 50 miles.
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### Author:  [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/8 "2015-07-08T11:17:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> It was LST’s. Each LST could carry six LCVP’s.
… it depends on the transport SHIP… Aquarius had 15 LCVP’s…
Here’s KA16, aquarius, with LCVP’s ready to go …
[http://www.robertsarmory.com/Higgins-Boat.htm](http://www.robertsarmory.com/Higgins-Boat.htm)
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/9 "2015-07-08T13:57:45Z")
> [@Obtenebrate](#):
>
> Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear sailed a toyota pickup with an outboard motor attached across the channel.
Nitpick: it was a 1996 Nissan XE pickup, not a Toyota. Clarkson used a Toyota pickup for the original “car-boat challenge” in season 9 (the previous year.) Anyway, Calais is only 20 miles from Dover; the Normandy landing areas are 200 miles down the coast and more than twice as far from anywhere in England.
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### Author:  [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/10 "2015-07-08T17:16:14Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#):
>
> Meet the [Attack Transport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_transport). Specifically, [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Henrico_%28APA-45%29) participated in the Normandy landings (at Omaha Beach).
Also [Attack Cargo Ships (AK/AKAs)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibious_cargo_ship); the only real difference being Attack Transports (AP/APAs) were designed more to carry troops and AKAs more to carry cargo, both types carried large numbers of landing craft on their decks that would be lowered into the water by cranes. There’s a complete listing of AKAs [here](http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02/02idx.htm) with links to specifications and photos of each ship. Though she wasn’t at Normandy but used in the landing in Southern France, this [boat stowage drawing](http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02/100200104.jpg) of the USS _Arcturus_ is handy, showing how she carried 8 LCM(3)s and 12 LCVPs on deck with 8 of the LCVPs stowed in the LCM(3)s.
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### Author:  [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/11 "2015-07-08T17:38:48Z")
From the article:
> [@](#):
>
> A total of 108 of these ships were built between 1943 and 1945—which worked out to an average of **one ship every eight days**.
Wow.
Thanks for the responses guys.
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### Author:  [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/12 "2015-07-09T00:28:38Z")
> [@Dissonance](#):
>
> Also [Attack Cargo Ships (AK/AKAs)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibious_cargo_ship); the only real difference being Attack Transports (AP/APAs) were designed more to carry troops and AKAs more to carry cargo, both types carried large numbers of landing craft on their decks that would be lowered into the water by cranes. There’s a complete listing of AKAs [here](http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02/02idx.htm) with links to specifications and photos of each ship. Though she wasn’t at Normandy but used in the landing in Southern France, this [boat stowage drawing](http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02/100200104.jpg) of the USS _Arcturus_ is handy, showing how she carried 8 LCM(3)s and 12 LCVPs on deck with 8 of the LCVPs stowed in the LCM(3)s.
If you really want to get the nitty-gritty, [here](http://www.hnsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/apa170.pdf)\* are the deck plans of an APA (as **Dissonance** said, the differences were less structural than layout-oriented).
One thing I tripped over in reading about these ships was that typically the grunts’ bunks were only 30" wide and were stacked 5-6 high in the holds. Must have made for a fun crossing, even in “calm” (for the Atlantic) seas; Og knows what it would be like in heavy (heave-y?) going.
\*Warning: pdf
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### Author:  [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/13 "2015-07-09T02:36:01Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#):
>
> If you really want to get the nitty-gritty, [here](http://www.hnsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/apa170.pdf)\* are the deck plans of an APA (as **Dissonance** said, the differences were less structural than layout-oriented).
>
> One thing I tripped over in reading about these ships was that typically the grunts’ bunks were only 30" wide and were stacked 5-6 high in the holds. Must have made for a fun crossing, even in “calm” (for the Atlantic) seas; Og knows what it would be like in heavy (heave-y?) going.
>
> \*Warning: pdf
Until 1970 AKA 32 the USS Mellena was renamed the TS Golden Bear and used by the California Maritime Academy as a training ship. She was a flat bottom shallow draft ship. In rough weather if not going straight into the waves it would slide down large waves giving the ride a cork screw ride. My 1st class year we went through a major Pacific storm. The bow was being pointed toward Seattle and we were making good a course towards San Diego. WE were rolling 38 to 46 degrees all the time. The galley had to be shut down and we had only cold cuts to eat for 3 days. I tied myself in an upper rack to try and sleep. One guy in an upper rack woke up in a lower rack after one roll. The head was just behind the fore peak on the main deck. Water was running on the floor because it could not stay in the toilets. You really had to go to use the head. And if you dropped one in you flushed as it dropped, or, well you get the idea. To add to the fun the forward engine room would ring up a stop bell every few minutes. When the ship would roll over 36 degrees the main condenser suction water box would come out of the water and the pump would over speed and trip out. The main motor would have to be stopped until the pump could be restarted. And that required closing a 36 inch gate valve, closing the steam valve, resetting the trip and opening the steam valve and when the pump was up to speed reopening the 36 inch valve. I stood outside the engine room and listen for a few minutes. I could hear the ring of bells on the EOT (engine order telegraph) to stop. After about a minute the bells would ring up full ahead. Then in a few minutes it was repeated all over again.
So yes the APAs and the AKAs were not a comfortable ride.
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### Author:  [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2015, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/14 "2015-07-09T05:08:52Z")
I was on an AKA (AKA-194, the USS Sandavol) from April 1966 until September of that year. I was in the Marines and my battalion did a Mediterranean cruise.
The accommodations did indeed suck and were as stated in **OttoDaFe’s** post. A lot of the men were seasick, some exceedingly so. It turns out that I’m a good sailor and have never heaved once from mal de mar once in my life.
We did several landings in Europe that involved climbing down cargo nets into landing craft. Carrying all your gear and trying to time letting go with the movement of the landing craft was a bit scary.
The trip over from Morehead City, NC to Rota, Spain was pretty easy going. But on the trip home we hit a pretty good sized storm and it was rocking and rolling.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2015, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/15 "2015-07-09T06:28:04Z")
> [@chacoguy](#):
>
> Wow.
I think the bigger Wow is this:
> [@](#):
>
> many were attacked by kamikazes and other aircraft, and several were torpedoed, but none were sunk or otherwise destroyed.
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### Author:  [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-get-the-landing-craft-from-england-to-normandy/724547/16 "2015-07-09T14:36:13Z")
[http://lst375.bravehost.com/lst375Photos.html](http://lst375.bravehost.com/lst375Photos.html)
More photos of Higgins boats stored on davits can be seen in this linked series of photos. (Scrolling a little over half way down in my browser.)