The Landing Craft Personnel (Large) was a landing craft

Landing craft

Landing craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean, and many Pacific islands during WWII...

 used extensively in the Second World War. Its primary purpose was to ferry troops from transport ships to attack enemy-held shores. The craft derived from a prototype designed by the Eureka Tug-Boat Company

Higgins Industries

Higgins Industries was the company owned by Andrew Higgins based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Higgins is most famous for the design and production of the Higgins boat, an amphibious landing craft referred to as LCVP, which were used extensively in D-Day Invasion of Normandy...

 of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. During the war it was manufactured in boatyards in and around New Orleans.
Typically constructed of pine planks and plywood

Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...

, and fitted with some armor plate, this shallow-draft boat with a crew of 3, could ferry an infantry platoon

Platoon

A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...

 of 36 to shore at 8 knots (13 km/h). Men generally entered the boat by walking over a gangplank from the boat deck of their troop transport as the LCP(L) hung from its davits. When loaded, the LCP(L) was lowered into the water. Soldiers exited the boat by jumping or climbing down from the craft’s bow or sides.

Origins

In 1936, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) conducted experiments with new types of boats, lighters, and launches to land troops. Many craft were considered coming from the Navy’s Bureau

Bureau of Construction and Repair

The Bureau of Construction and Repair was the part of the United States Navy which from 1862 to 1940 was responsible for supervising the design, construction, conversion, procurement, maintenance, and repair of ships and other craft for the Navy...

 as well as commercial designs. Included in these experiments were some prototypes with ramps and others with rollers. A few boats were overwhelmed by the surf and others did not prove practical, but the 28 feet (9 m) craft designed by the Eureka Tug-Boat Company of New Orleans, was both a good sea boat and superior at beaching. The craft was based on the company’s 1926 spoonbill

Spoonbill

Spoonbills are a group of large, long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, which also includes the Ibises.All have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side...

-bowed craft used by trappers in the Bayou

Bayou

A bayou is an American term for a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river , or to a marshy lake or wetland. The name "bayou" can also refer to creeks that see level changes due to tides and hold brackish water which...

s of the Mississippi delta. The boat’s draft was rather shallow, 18 inches (46 cm), and it could cut through vegetation and slide over logs without ruining its propeller. It could also run up on shore and extract itself damage-free. As part of sales demonstrations, boats were often run up on the seawalls of Lake Ponchartrain (the craft was also infamous among law enforcement along the Gulf Coast

Gulf Coast of the United States

The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South, South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States...

 as a vehicle for rum-runners

Rum-running

Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...

). The general lines of the boat were accepted by the USMC and in September 1940 and Andrew J. Higgins

Andrew Higgins

Andrew Jackson Higgins was the founder and owner of Higgins Industries, the New Orleans-based manufacturer of "Higgins boats" during World War II. General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. .....

 who ran the Eureka Tug-Boat company was contracted to build a slightly larger craft to carry 24 fully equipped troops. He produced the 32 feet (10 m) Eureka or Higgins boat. This was the craft first used in American Fleet Landing Exercises

Fleet Landing Exercises

The Fleet Landing Exercises, or FLEX were a series of annual large-scale amphibious landings exercises conducted to test the United States Marine Corps' legitimation of the Fleet Marine Force...

 in 1941.

Before the USMC received their boats the British Admiralty’s need for a raiding craft brought the first enquiries for an even larger boat. Purchasing agents from Britain had become aware of Andrew Higgins’ Eureka; enquiries were made and a film of the Eureka was sent to the Admiralty in London. The German occupation of France had changed British procurement plans dramatically. The Admiralty’s Inter-Service Training and Development Centre

Inter-Service Training and Development Centre

The Inter-Service Training and Development Centre was a department under the British Chiefs of Staff set up prior to World War II for the purpose of developing methods and equipment to use in Combined Operations....

 wanted a 36 in 8 in (11.18 m) craft, intending the boat to carry a full British army platoon and two or three attached signallers or assault engineers. An initial order for 136 was placed and the first 50 were delivered to the Britain in October 1940. Higgins had already built these boats on spec

Speculation

In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...

 and is said to have preferred this larger craft. Further US procurements were of this larger boat and as the LCP(L) was the forerunner of all American LCP types.
Along with the LCVP

LCVP

The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in amphibious landings in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, United States, based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes...

, LCM

Landing Craft Mechanized

The Landing Craft Mechanized or Landing Craft Mechanical was a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allied amphibious assaults....

 and PT Boat

PT boat

PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...

, it was a mainstay of the fighting Navy in World War II.

The LCP(L)s were also known as Eurekas or R boats. They were American-made landing craft that could carry as many as 36 troops. Unlike later landing craft, the LCP(L)s did not have ramps at the bow so the troops had to jump over the sides to get out. The boats themselves were made of plywood but had armored bulkheads. They were invented by Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 native Andrew Higgins

Andrew Higgins

Andrew Jackson Higgins was the founder and owner of Higgins Industries, the New Orleans-based manufacturer of "Higgins boats" during World War II. General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. .....

before the war and were designed with a shallow draft to operate in swamps. But, it turned out that the design was also excellent for operating on shallow beaches.

External links

• USS Rankin (AKA-103): LCPL
• "At Home A Float, part 2" Popular Mechanics, September 1937 photos of the early civilian Eureka Boats with the spoonbill bows