Aviation and Military History
By its very nature, amphibious warfare presents the men and equipment involved not just with the hazards of any military undertaking, but also with the possibility of destruction or damage as a result of the particular nature of the operation milieu. The most obvious problem faced by landing craft is that of becoming stranded as …
Continue reading “Amphibious Warfare – Salvage & Repair Craft”
Widely known as the amphtrack and amtrak (or amtrac), the LVT (Landing Vehicle Tracked) was a type of vehicle optimised for the amphibious warfare role, and was a small amphibious landing craft used initially by the US Navy, US Marine Corps and US Army during World War II. The vehicle was initially intended to carry …
Continue reading “Amphibious Warfare – The Landing Vehicle Tracked (I)”
World War II revealed, to an extent hitherto unconsidered and in any event unobtainable by the technology of the period, the very clear advantage of being able to carry men, light weapons and many types of equipment and supplies straight from the landing craft, either beached or lying just offshore, across the assault beach to …
Continue reading “Amphibious Warfare – The DUKW Amphibious Truck”
When the LST Mk I was being designed, the concept of distant raiding still featured strongly in British minds and thus influenced the design, but by the winter of 1941 the distant raiding concept had been largely replaced by a fear of invasion. At their first meeting at the Atlantic conference in Argentia, Newfoundland, during …
Continue reading “Amphibious Warfare – The Tank Landing Ship (II)”
The Tank Landing Ship, or more properly, the Landing Ship, Tank (LST), is the type of vessel created in World War II to support amphibious operations with the carriage of vehicles (most especially armoured vehicles), cargo and troops to be landed directly onto an unimproved shore. The British ‘Dynamo’ evacuation from Dunkirk in June 1940 …
Continue reading “Amphibious Warfare – The Tank Landing Ship”