The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes. More than 20,000 were built, by Higgins Industries and licensees.

Constructed from plywood, this shallow-draft, barge-like boat could ferry a platoon-sized complement of 36 men to shore at 12 mph (19 km/h). Men generally entered the boat by climbing down a cargo net hung from the side of their troop transport; they exited by charging down the boat's bow ramp.

"Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... 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." — General Dwight Eisenhower

Specifications

• Displacement: 18,000 lb (8,000 kg) light
• Length: 36 ft 3 in (11.0 m)
• Beam: 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
• Draft: 3 ft aft, 2 ft 2 in forward (0.9, 0.7 m)
• Speed: 9 knots (17 km/h)
• Armament: 2 × .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine guns
• Complement: 3
• Capacity: 36 troops or 6,000 lb (2,700 kg) vehicle
  or 8,100 lb (3,700 kg) general cargo
• 225 hp (168 kW) Diesel (gray) or
  250 hp (186 kW) gasoline (Hall-Scott) engines

External links

• Higgins Boat Project, associated with the National D-Day Museum
• Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940–1945: LCVP
• History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II Volume I
  Chapter 3: Development of Landing Craft