Typically constructed of hardwood planking and selectively clad with armour plate, this shallow-draft, barge-like boat with a crew of four could ferry an infantry platoon of 31 and five additional specialist troops, to shore at 7 knots (13 km/h).

[3] The LCA design's sturdy hull, load capacity, low silhouette, shallow draft, little bow wave, and silenced engines were all assets that benefited the occupants.

Throughout the war in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean, the LCA was the most likely sea assault transport of British Commandos, United States Army Rangers, and other special forces.

The costly failure of the Gallipoli campaign during World War I coupled with the emerging potential of airpower satisfied many in naval and military circles that the age of amphibious operations had come to a close.

Munich also led to many changes in Imperial General Staff policies, among which was the acceptance of a proposal in November from the Inter-Service Training and Development Centre (ISTDC) at Fort Cumberland for amphibious assault procedures and for a new type of landing craft.

The new craft also had to be built around the load - apart from crew it should carry the thirty-one men of a British Army platoon and five assault engineers or signallers – and be so shallow drafted as to be able to land them, wet only up to their knees, in eighteen inches of water.

The latter was a conversion by the parent firm of Thornycroft to carry an armoured searchlight (Canal Defence Light) originally developed for use in tanks and intended to blind the enemy or create 'Artificial Moonlight' in a night attack.

Ford V8 marine conversions by Thornycroft powered the early groups of LCAs, these water-cooled petrol engines developing 65 hp each when driving the 19"x14" 2-bladed propellers through a 41:20 gear reduction.

These early craft did not yet have the later standard portside armoured Lewis gun position, but nevertheless, had framed canvas hold covers, scaling ladders mounted on the decks amidships, and various other refinements dropped when mass production got into full swing.

[18][38] The finish and performance of these early LCAs were quite fine, which might be expected as these boats were built in established Thornycroft selected yards, but in circumstances of nightly blackouts, air raids, wartime restrictions, and shortages the LCA building programme was a remarkable achievement.

[42] Early in the war the arrangements for manning LCAs and structure of LCA units was governed by the expediency of the moment; nevertheless, by mid-war permanent crews and larger formation plans could be kept.

[44] In July 1943 Royal Marines from the Mobile Naval Bases Defence Organization and other shore units were drafted into the pool to crew the expanding numbers of landing craft being gathered in England for the Normandy invasion.

The first four LCAs used in an opposed landing disembarked 120 French Foreign Legionnaires of the 13th Demi-Brigade (13e DBLE) on the beach at Bjerkvik, 8 miles (13 km) north of Narvik, on 13 May during the Norwegian Campaign.

[36][56] 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.

The plan agreed involved the LCAs making the twenty-mile (32 km) approach journey under their own power, a pre-landing bombardment by ships, followed by the landing of three tanks - one from a new LCM (Mk.

[58] The LCA crews manoeuvered their craft to the left of the village of Bjerkvik, the intended landing place, and under a slight rise in the ground in order to spare the soldiers casualties from opposing machine gun fire.

This debut of the new LCA was seen, from a distance, by Admiral L. E. H. Maund, who had done much work in its development:We could see the dark forms, like so many ants, after their five hours in the L.C.A., run out of their craft, open out and, without a moment's pause, advance across and over the knoll that covered the village from the west.

[70] Later that month, following the successful German intervention, LCAs were involved in the evacuation of Greece, where in hastily organized operations some 50,000 troops were embarked from ports including Porto Rafti, Argos, and Kalamata.

To accomplish this task each LCA had sandbags laid down its decks as parapets for Boys anti-tank rifles and Bren guns fitted with high volume drum magazines.

[98] After disembarking their troops the LCAs, along with other landing craft types, were to withdraw away from the coast a few miles to an area protected by a smoke screen designated as the "boat pool."

[105] The wide, flat beach and rapidly ebbing tide made re-embarkation difficult, and the troops had to wade out up to their necks to reach the landing-craft which had waited unmolested fifty yards off-shore throughout the operation.

German resistance to the Saskatchewans had been stiffening inland, but Green Beach was still not receiving heavy fire at approximately 05:35 when a LCA landed the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada.

[77] Gradually, the Japanese advance over land forced Franks higher up the river: he might have continued operations against the enemy, but in mid-May he was shot up by the RAF and decided it was unsafe to stay in the no-man's-land between the two armies.

Here LCAs were filled with soldiers and lowered, after which the craft formed flotillas and moved to their respective waiting positions, Red and Green, a mile off Bark South.

Unfortunately, this wave was not so successful; a number of craft initially failed to locate their designated beaches, and, arriving 30 to 60 minutes late, delayed the division's movement inland.

The planners considered that Nan landing craft would require higher water to navigate among what aerial photographs suggested were underwater rocks, but later discovered that this threat had been much overestimated and that much of the shoal was actually floating seaweed.

Operation Romeo had LCAs of the RCN disembark the 1er Commando Français de l'Afrique du Nord to disable German artillery atop the cliffs of Cap Nègre.

[19] Following the landings in southern France, the RN's LSI units remained in the Mediterranean or began moving to the Indian Ocean in anticipation of joining the war against Japan.

[164] In Cochin, India, at the shore establishment HMS Chinkara (home of the Landing Craft Storage, Section 21), many LCA were towed out to the 10 fathom mark and sunk by various means from axe to Bofors gun fire.

As amphibians became more seaworthy and helicopters had demonstrated the ability to fly over fixed beach defences, the day of landing craft as initial assault transport was seen to have passed.