Landing Ship, Infantry (LSI) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 term for a type of ship used to transport infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 in amphibious warfare

Amphibious warfare

Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...

 during the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

The LSI would take its cargo of infantry close to the target area. They would then transfer to 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...

, such as the Landing Craft, Assault

Landing Craft Assault

The Landing Craft Assault was a British landing craft used extensively in World War II. Its primary purpose was to ferry troops from transport ships to attack enemy-held shores. The craft derived from a prototype designed by John I. Thornycroft Ltd. During the war it was manufactured throughout...

 for the journey to the beach. A small LSI would be around 3,000 gross registered tons

Gross Register Tonnage

Gross register tonnage a ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated from the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel. The ship's net register tonnage is obtained by reducing the volume of non-revenue-earning spaces i.e...

 and could carry up to 800 troops. The largest LSI(L) could carry 1,800 and would need 20 or so landing craft for that number.

LSI were generally converted cross-channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

 ferries

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 and other similar ships of that size or converted passenger ships

Conversion was accomplished by adding davit

Davit

A davit is a structure, usually made of steel, which is used to lower things over an edge of a long drop off such as lowering a maintenance trapeze down a building or launching a lifeboat over the side of a ship....

s for the landing craft plus some defensive armament, such as QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun

QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun

The QF 12 pounder 12 cwt gun was a common calibre naval gun introduced in 1894 and used until the middle of the 20th century. It was produced by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick and used on Royal Navy warships, and exported to allied countries...

s, and anti-aircraft gun

Anti-aircraft warfare

NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...

s, such as the 20 mm

20 mm caliber

The 20 mm caliber is a specific size of cannon or autocannon ammunition, commonly the smallest caliber which is unambiguously a cannon and not a heavy machine gun....

 Oerlikon cannon

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...

.

The Attack Transport (APA)

Attack transport

Attack Transport is a United States Navy ship classification.-History:In the early 1940s, as the United States Navy expanded in response to the threat of involvement in World War II, a number of civilian passenger ships and some freighters were acquired, converted to transports and given hull...

 was the US Navy's equivalent of the LSI, during World War II.

Post-war the US renamed their Landing Craft, Infantry as "Landing Ship Infantry" - these were vessels that could beach and carried around 200 troops.

Ship designations

LSI(S)	Landing Ship, Infantry (Small)
LSI(M)	Landing Ship, Infantry (Medium)
LSI(L)	Landing Ship, Infantry (Large)
LSI(H)	Landing Ship, Infantry (Hand-hoisting)

Ships

– Isle of Man Steam Packet Company passenger ferry. Served at Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc is a clifftop location on the coast of Normandy in northern France. It lies 4 miles west of Omaha Beach, and stands on 100 ft tall cliffs overlooking the sea...

 with 2nd US Rangers, 6 June 1944

• Duke of York
  Duke of York (1935)
  The Duke of York was a steamer passenger ship initially operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway which saw service from 1935 to 1964...
  
  – LSI(L), destroyed by fire, April 1944
• Empire Arquebus – LSI(L) – LSI(L) – LSI(L), 10,000 tons, 700 troops
• Karanja – LSI(L), sunk off Algeria, 1942 – formerly an ocean-going passenger ship – former Belgian ferry SS Princesse Marie-José, also served as HMS Baldur – LSI(M), 500 troops – LSI(M) – LSI(S), former Belgian cross channel ferry, torpedoed in 1944 by – LSI(S) – LSI(M) – LSI(S) – LSI(M) – formerly Empire Anvil – LSI(H), former passenger ferry operating in the Irish Sea
  Irish Sea
  The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
  
   – formerly Empire Crossbow

See also

• Auxiliary Personnel Attack Ship
  Attack transport
  Attack Transport is a United States Navy ship classification.-History:In the early 1940s, as the United States Navy expanded in response to the threat of involvement in World War II, a number of civilian passenger ships and some freighters were acquired, converted to transports and given hull...
  
  - US term for a similar ship

External links

• http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-40LSI-L-Royal%20Scotsman.htm
• http://www.maritimequest.com/liners/02_pages/p/prince_leopold_1930_data.htm