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demonterico -> RE: Whats a Higgins Boat? (9/5/2009 2:45:20 AM)
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"'Andrew Higgins..'..Eisenhower said..'..is the man who won the war for us.' My face must have shown the astonishment I felt at hearing such a strong statement from such a source. Eisenhower went on to explain, 'If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different.'"
Stephen E. Ambrose
D-DAY JUNE 6, 1944: THE CLIMACTIC BATTLE OF WORLD WAR II
Higgins boats were 36'3" in length and had a beam of 10'10". Their displacement was 18,000 lbs.(unloaded). They could do a speed of 9 knots and were defended by 2, .30 cal. machine guns. They could carry 36 combat equipped infantrymen or 8,000 pounds of cargo. The U.S. produced 23,398 of them during World War II. In the European Theater an LST carried 6 LCVPs, as opposed to 4 in the Pacific Theater. These boats usually had a 4 man crew.
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