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There was no single design of LCM used, unlike the landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) or landing craft assault (LCA) landing craft made by the US and UK respectively. There were several different designs built by the UK and US and by different manufacturers.
The British motor landing craft (MLC) was conceived and tested in the 1920s and was used from 1924 in exercises. Nine were in service at the start of the war. It was the first purpose built tank landing craft. It was the progenitor of all subsequent LCM designs.
The landing craft, mechanised Mark I, was an early British model. It was able to be slung under the davits of a liner or on a cargo ship boom with the result that it was limited to a 16-ton tank.[1][clarification needed]
Capable of carrying 120,000 lb (54,000 kg) of cargo
Higgins
In appearance very similar to the LCVP which Higgins Industries also constructed, with a 10-foot (3.0 m) wide load area at the front and a small armoured (1/4 inch steel) wheelhouse on the aft decking over the engine room. A vessel claiming to be a Higgins LCM-3 is on display at the Battleship Cove maritime museuminFall River, Massachusetts, however this vessel has the superstructure and overall length of an LCM-6.[5] Another Higgins LCM-3 is displayed at the Museo Storico Piana delle Orme in Province of Latina, Italy, 18 miles east of Anzio.[6]
In the years 1943 and 1944, seventy-seven LCM(4)s were built.[7] Outwardly, the LCM(4) was almost completely identical to a late model LCM(1) – the difference lay inside the pontoon. Here special bilge pumps and special ballast tanks allowed the LCM(4) to alter trim to increase stability when partially loaded.
The LCM (6) was an LCM (3) extended by 6 feet (1.8 m) amidships.
Power plant:
2 Detroit 6-71 diesel engines; 348 hp (260 kW) sustained; twin shaft; or
2 Detroit 8V-71 diesel engines; 460 hp (340 kW) sustained; twin shaft
Length: 56.2 feet (17.1 m)
Beam: 14 feet (4.3 m)
Displacement: 64 tons (65 tonnes) full load
Speed: 9 knots (10.3 mph, 16.6 km/h)
Range: 130 miles (240 km) at 9 knots (17 km/h)
Military lift: 34 tons (34.6 tonnes) or 80 troops
Crew: 5
Many LCM-6s were later adapted for the Mobile Riverine Force in the Vietnam War. Some were modified as armored troop carriers (ATCs or "Tangos"), others became "monitors" with 105 mm guns, "Zippos" with flamethrowers or "Charlie" command variants.
Power plant: four 6-71 six-cylinder diesels, two hydraulic transmissions, two propeller shafts. (Lighterage Division, Naval Support Activity Danang 1969-1970) crew of 3: coxswain, bowhook, and engineer (aka "snipe")
Power plant: 2 Detroit 12V-71 diesel engines; 680 hp (510 kW) sustained; twin shafts
Gordon L. Rottman & Tony Bryan, Landing Ship, Tank (LST) 1942–2002, New Vanguard series 115, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2005. ISBN9781841769233
Gordon L. Rottman & Hugh Johnson, Vietnam Riverine Craft 1962–75, New Vanguard series 128, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2006. ISBN9781841769318
Gordon L. Rottman & Peter Bull, Landing Craft, Infantry and Fire Support, New Vanguard series 157, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2009. ISBN9781846034350
Maund, LEH Assault From the Sea, Methuen & Co. Ltd., London 1949.