Landing Craft [Tanks] and how to break them: A misusers guide.
Landing Craft [Tanks] and how to break them: A misusers guide.
Photo Malindine (Lt) War Office official photographer - H 19057
IWM caption : THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1939-45; A Crusad er I tank emerges from a tank landing craft (TLC 124) during tests of a portable concrete roadway, in this case laid on the beach, 26 April 1942.
The need for a purposeful way to put men and material on a hostile shore had been on the minds of the Royal Navy since it commissioned its first Motor Landing Craft in 1926. A specific vessel which could deliver tanks was launched in November 1940. While the image, for people of a certain age, would be of a single Airfix Sherman tank coming out of the ship, the first LCTs [mark 1] could carry three tanks. The Mark 2 could carry seven and later marks had a larger capacity [1]. In truth, however, the designation T for Tank would be more accurately rendered T for Things. Of all the tasks that the LCTs performed, dashing up an opposed beach was a good second to being a workhorse that could carry men and material to beaches, among other places, to keep the Army supplied.
Figure 1: Cause of LCT loss 1941-1945
Source: British Warship Losses in the Modern Era 1920-1982 by David Hepper
Seaforth Publishing 2022
The reasons for each category tell the underlying story of British fortunes in the War.
Figure 2 - LCT Losses 1942-42
LCTs are vulnerable to air attack and there use, when air supremacy had not been achieved figures highly in 1941. LCT [1] 1 was, with a well developed numerical sense of timing, the first to be lost. LCTs were employed in the evacuation of troops following the failure of the Greek venture. On 24th April 1941 LCT [1] 1 was at Megara when it was pounced on by a Junkers 87. Four days later LCT [1] 5 was picked off at Monemvasia. The same circumstances, an evacuation, of Crete, also saw LCT [1] 6 and 20 sunk by aircraft.
Aircover improved and losses from this source disappeared until the early part of the Italian campaign. On 10th July 1943, during Operation Husky, German air attacks destroyed LCT [3] 300 and 410. Later on in the campaign LCT [3] 353 was sunk by similar means in Syracuse harbour.
The struggle for mastery over the U-Boats between 1941 and 1943 showed up with losses of LCTs being transported across the Atlantic from their American construction yards; in Home waters and around Africa for use in the Med. On 10th October 1941 LCT [2] 102 was being carried on the deck of the merchant vessel, Nailsea Manor as part of Convoy OS7 from Liverpool to Freetow. It was lost when its carrier was sunk by U-126.
A LCT [5] on the deck of a LST. Origin unknown.
Taken from ‘The Tin Armada’
LCTs tended to be lost in clumps, either through being hit by the same inclement weather or being involved in the same combat mission. While only the fourth on the list of reasons an LCT is lost, shell fire from the land would probably be the most expected and certainly amongst the biggest causes of loss when a Landing Craft was delivering tanks to a hostile shore.
The Dieppe Raid, Operation Jubilee, in August 1942 saw the demise of five LCT [2] - 121, 124,126, 145 and 159 all from shellfire from the land. This was the highest number of craft loss to date; the highest number in a single day till D-Day and only equalled in term of a single mission by the Flight P Convoy disaster in November 1943.
Figure 3 LCT losses January 1943 to November 1944
Losses from December 1943 to May 1944 presumably reflect the careful husbanding of resources ahead of D-Day and Allied air supremacy in Italy. Attacking a heavy defended coast, with prepared minefields would, naturally, cost many craft from many causes..
Operation Neptune could be said to provide the Bingo card for LCT losses. Five were destroyed by mines, four by shellfire from the land, three, by material failures in the craft, and a further one to Torpedo Boat and another to the weather. The 14 lost account for almost 10% of total losses during the war and certainly the largest loss on a single day.
LCTs were part of the Royal Navy world but were not to be skippered by the regular navy. Of the 10 lost on D-Day I can identify, three were commanded by lieutenants, seven were sub-lieutenants and all were part of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. [4]
Weather was the single greatest cause of LCT loss. Occasionally this was because of a single mishap, such as LCT [5] 2039, which found itself swamped by heavy seas twenty miles from Gold Beach and turned turtle. Other times it was because very bad weather overtook a large number of craft and these events can account for a huge percentage of sinkings.
In November 1943 the Flight P Convoy was a collection of LCTs being sent out of the Mediterranean to be redeployed for Operation Neptune. The whole venture was plagued by mechanical failures and this was not helped by the arrival of one of the first serious gales of the winter to hit the British Isles.[5] Lack of spares and inadequate materials to make the tank decks weatherproof resulted in the sinking four craft. A fifth, LCT 332 separated from the convoy because of engine failure and ended making, what was hoped to be, an impoverished landing on a Spanish beach but was, in fact, grounding on some rocks. All attempts to refloat it failed and a local salvage firm turned it into scrap.
Figure 4: Last reported sighting of LCT [3] 332 before its journey to Spain.
The one saving grace of the Flight P Convoy disaster was that very few lives were lost. This is not the case of Convoy OS92/KMS66. Setting out of the Clyde, and joined by more ships from Liverpool, nine LCTs were being towed to Freetown. On 17th October 1944 gale-force winds hit the convoy and within a few hours six craft were sunk. [6]
Material failure, whether it was faulty engines, poor welds or just plain over use and under maintained proved the second most main cause of LCT loss and contributed to many other sinkings. From early on in the war investigations into the problems of maintaining Landing Craft were being voiced and investigated.[7] Part of the problem was that the engines had a limited life span and they were being overworked as the demands for the craft to support landings in Italy as well as prepare for Overlord did not allow adequate maintenance. The other problem was a lack of spare parts to keep the LCTs operating. The Investigation into the Flight P Convoy showed how craft were being stripped of spares which were never replaced.
D-Day did not end the demands on LCTs, in some ways it increased them. The failure of the Allies to secure a port meant supplies needed to be brought in over the beaches. The Mulberry Harbours helped but the LCTs were required to work beyond their expected mission load and ever time they thumped into a beach, the craft was shocked again and the culmination of wear and tear increased till the vessel failed. 70% of all LCTs lost to material failure did so in the Summer of 1944. [8]
Figure 5: LCT losses December 1944 to August 1945
Operation Infatuate, the landing at Walcheren on 1st November 1944 was the last opposed landing to see LCTs sunk. Four craft were lost to mines and shellfire. After that material failure and weather continued to eat away at Landing Craft numbers until December, when the need for them diminished when adequate port facilities were available.
The last great loss of LCTs came about on 21st/22nd May 1945. A storm hit Genoa, where many vessels were moored. Several dragged their anchors and fuel spillage led to a fire. Between the flames and the force of the wind nine LCTs were destroyed.
The first LCT of the war was sunk in Greek waters. So was the last. LCT [3] 357, Captained by Lieutenant Roger Meyrick Beauchamp RNVR [9] was in Suda Bay, Crete. Having been part of the force sent to take the German surrender she was being used as part in the clear up, taking Axis ammunition out to sea and dumping it. While some munitions were being loaded they exploded, taking the LCT with them. All the crew were rescued.
This article is entitled ‘Landing Craft [Tanks] and how to break them.’ In some ways it might be renamed ‘How far can we get away with it’. Sitting very low in the Naval hierarchy and being, essentially, expendable items, LCTs losses were heaviest when they were pushed too far, used in months where the weather might be fine, but could be deadly; overused and under maintained to keep supply lines going - and it is easy to speculate that given their limited intended life span, why would put precious resources into vessels whose days, after Operation Neptune, were numbered.
Perhaps, however, it is the lack of evidence which is the tribute to the Royal Navy. That weather and material failure got so many LCTs is because they weren’t got by other causes. After Dieppe, the land batteries were mostly silenced; the E-boats and aircraft kept away and the minefields swept.
Notes
[1] 30 LCT [1] were made. They were 46m x 8.8m and had a crew of 12. The 73 LCT [2] 48.74m x 9.1m and still had a crew of 12. LCT [3] were 59m x 9.1m, 235 were constructed. 865 LCT [4] were made. They were 57.07m x 11.81m. The LCT [5] marked a departure from the tendency to get bigger. It was only 35.81m by 9.8m. It had a crew of 13. It also departed the standard by only having a range of 1300km - as opposed to 5000km for the 3, and 2700km for the 4. The Mark 6, of which 960 were built, was 36.3m by 9.96m. Its crew of 12 could go 700km.
A Mark 7 was built, but was redesignated as a Landing Ship, Medium. 558 served in the Pacific. The Mark 8 was almost 69m long. 168 were ordered, only 31 were built before the end of the war. The Mark 9 was conceived in 1944 but the design was never completed.
All LCTs refered to here will be given with its mark and number. Eg LCT [1] 11 or LCT [3] 332.
For more details see ‘The Tin Armada: Saga of the LCT by Basil Hendre
https://web.archive.org/web/20110902182446/http://ww2lct.org/history/stories/tin_armada.htm
[2] ‘This does not include LCT [5] 2049, 2229, 2273, 2301 2307 and 2402. These were Lease Lend LCTs that were lent back to the US Navy for D-Day and lost on the 6th June. four on Omaha and two on Utah Beach.
[3] National Archives DM1/15024
[4] The Royal Navy had to two reserve organisations. The RNR [Royal Navy Reserve] was established in 1859 and consisted of men from merchant and fishing fleets who could be called upon in war time. The RNVR [Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve] was raised in 1903 and did not require prior sea experience. The RNVR was almost entirely made up of war time only commissions.
[5] National Archives DM1/15024
[6] LCT [3] 480’s cargo broke loose and the welds on the bow doors failed. The crew were eventually rescued. LCT [3] 488 also suffered from poor welds. She was swamped by a huge wave and only one of the ten crew were saved. LCT [3] 491 lost her tow and try to make her way under her own steam. She was swamped by several huge waves however her skipper, Lieutenant Phillip Read, managed to keep her alongside a frigate and all the crew were taken off - including one very drunk stoker.
LCT [4] 494 lost her tow, attempted to proceed using her own power. She disappeared with the lost of 17 crew. LCT [3] 7014 lost her town and despite starting off using her own engines lost power and sunk with the loss of nine lives. LCT [3] 7015 was labouring heavily when she was cast off. She disappeared with the loss of 18 men.
[7] National Archives DEFE 2/862
[8] For example LCT [3] 324 was written off in July 1944, a constructive loss caused by too many landings. On 15th July LCT [5] 2263 hull was so badly strained she had to be beached - and was written off as a constructive loss.
[9] Beauchamp was from Bristol. He became a teacher after the war. https://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNVR_officersB1a.html
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