Constructed of steel and selectively clad with armour plate, this shallow-draft, barge-like boat with a crew of 6, could ferry a tank of 16 long tons to shore at 7 knots (13 km/h).

[1] This being the earliest design in use at the time, it was more specifically called "Landing Craft, Mechanised Mark 1" or LCM(1).

All landing craft designs (and landing ship designs for ships intended to beach) must find a compromise between two divergent priorities; the qualities that make a good sea boat are opposite those that make a craft suitable for beaching.

Throughout the Second World War, LCM(1)s were used for landing Allied forces in many Commando operations, major and minor, in the European theatre.

United States Army formations were dependent on these craft in the North African, Sicilian, and Italian mainland landing operations.

The first LCM used in an opposed landing disembarked a French light tank, a 13-ton Hotchkiss H39 supporting the 13th Demi-Brigade (13e DBLE) on the beach at Bjerkvik, 8 miles (13 km) above Narvik, on 13 May during the Norwegian Campaign.

[8][9] The army commander, General Antoine Béthouart, responsible for capturing the area north of Rombaks, realized that a landing behind German lines in the Herjangsfjord was required to force the enemy to retire.

It was not possible to hoist it onto available ships, so an attempt was made to tow it home behind a trawler, but the sea became too rough and the LCM had to be cut adrift and sunk.

It safely came away from the beaches toward the close of the operation, but its army passengers and crew were transferred to a larger vessel in the Channel.