Allied Amphibious Vessels of WWII Quiz

Answer: Landing Ship Dock

LSD's came in several classes and were designed to transport preloaded landing craft, vehicles and troops to a landing area. They would then flood the deck and the cargo and vehicles would go out the stern gate into the sea. After that, they could then be used as a repair ship for smaller vessels. It had a varity of weapons, one 5in gun, two twin 40mm and many 20mm guns.

Answer: LCVP

This great boat was designed by Andrew J. Higgins. LCVP stood for Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel. It had a crew of three and had two 30 cal. machine guns. It could carry 36 troops and their gear or 1 Jeep and 12 troops. They were made of plywood and over 20,000 were built. Troops went ashore when the bow ramp was lowered.

They were used in most WWII landings. LCC stood for Landing Craft Control, LCF stood for Landing Craft Flak and LCR stood for Landing Craft Rubber, which was just a rubber raft.

Answer: The Amtrak

This was the Amtrak. It was used in the Pacific theater to get troops over coral reefs. It could carry 30 troops and a crew of 3. It had two 50cal. machine guns. It really saved the day at the Battle of Tarawa, although many of the vehicles were lost. There was also the LVT(A) Armored, which had a 75mm howitzer and could be used inland like a tank.

Answer: Two gangways

This vessel would get to the beach and lower two gangways, one on each side of the vessel to get the troops ashore. It could carry from 180-210 men into the fight. It carried a crew of 3 officers and 21 enlisted men. It had a main armament of four 20mm cannons for anti-aircraft defense.

It can be seen in a lot of pictures of the Normandy Landings disembarking British troops down its gangways.

Answer: Landing Ship Tank

This great ship was over 328' long and could carry 20 Sherman tanks in its lower deck and numerous vehicles in the upper deck, plus troops, cargo and smaller landing craft. It even had an elevator between decks. It had a crew of 10 officers and 115 enlisted men. LSTs of the U.S. Navy had numerous 40mm and 20mm guns.

Some also had a 3" or 5"gun. The outer bow doors would open and the ramp would come down to disembark troops and cargo. About 40 were sunk during the war by many different causes and in many different battles.

The USS LST325 was still in service in the Greek Navy in 2000 and was obtained by the USS LST Ship Memorial Inc. It was then was sailed by WWII LST veteran crewmen to Mobile, Al. It was later taken up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and is on display in Evansville, In.

Answer: Landing Craft , Mechanized

There were several types of LCMs built by British and Americans. The LCM Mk3 could carry 60,000 lbs. It was built by Higgins and looked like a big LCVP. It had a front ramp and carried a crew of 4 with two 50cal machine guns. It was used in both theaters and was very versatile getting vehicles and troops ahore.

There was also the LCM(G) Gunboat and LCM(R) Rocket. Later models were used in Korea and Vietnam.

Answer: Landing Craft Support

These vessels were built on the same hull as the LCI. They had a crew of 3-6 officers and 55-68 enlisted men. They had a big armament of 40mm deck guns and 20 mm cannons, plus 50cal machine guns. They also had 10 rocket launchers. They could also lay smoke. They were used for close support on the beaches and were placed on picket stations for anti-aircrft duty.

Answer: Landing Craft Tank

LCTs could carry up to 20 medium tanks or 1,900 tons of other cargo and troops. Two models for the USN were the MK5 and MK6. The MK5 just had a bow ramp whereas the MK6 was a few feet longer and had both a bow and stern ramp. There was also the LCT(A) Armored, LCT(H) Hospital and LCT(R) Rocket.

After WWII, the MK5 was disposed of and the MK6 was redesignated LSU, Landing Craft Utility.

Answer: Landing Ship Vehicle

Not many of these were built. They could carry 40 DUKWs (Amphibious trucks) and 800 troops. They could launch the vehicles through a stern door and bow ramp. The LSV Ozark carried pre loaded trailors of rations, fuel and ammo for the Iwo Jima landings. After the landings she was used as an evacuation hospital ship.

Answer: Landing Ship, Medium

Over 500 of these little workhorses were built. They were 203' long and had a crew of 4 officers and 54 enlisted men. They had a single or twin 40mm on the bow, five 20mm and some 50 cal. machine guns. Like the LST, the bow doors opened and and a ramp came down to unload its cargo.

They were used only in the Pacific and seen action in the Phillipines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In 1998 the LSM 45 was found in Greece and towed to the US where it was on display in Omaha, NE. In 2004 it was moved to the Marine Corps Museum at Camp Lejune.

There was also the LSM(R) Rocket. LSM(R) could fire 480 5in rockets in 30 seconds, but took over two hours to reload. My dad served abord the USS LSM 208 which participated in the Battle of Okinawa. The LSM208 had a non assult landing on 4/8/45 on Purple Beach One.

She landed units of the 713th Armored Flame Thrower Battalion. This included 7 Flame Throwing Sherman Tanks, 1 Jeep, 1 Half Track, 1 Truck, 1 Truck and trailor, 10,000 gallons of napalm and other cargo of ammo, rations and gasoline.

She fired at one kamikaze aircraft and spent 508 rounds of 20mm, 15 rounds of 40mm and 11 rounds of 50 cal. This was the only aircraft that came within range of her guns although there were numerous attacks throughout her time in the Okinawa vicinity. She was in Toyko Bay for the surrender of Japan and did numerous duties while in Japan. The most rewarding was picking up Allied POWs in Japan and getting them to Hospital ships. In 1946 she was given to the Chinese Nationalists. Six LSMs and three LSM(R)s were sunk during the war, mostly by suicide aircraft. LSMs went on to serve in Korea and even a couple in Vietnam.