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Page 15 text:
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INTRODUCING THE DUCHESS g A. The Assault Transport--The Amphibious Force' Authorities realized that this was an Amphibious War On both oceans ' nemy was protected by large bodies of water. ln oraer for our foot , lnfantrymen and Marines, to take and hold ground, we had to trans- men, machinery, and equipment long distances, launch them against the y shores in topnotch fighting condition, and support them on the beach- eqd with a never ending flow of ammunition, water, food, guns, and vehicles. landing of large numbers of infantrymen complete with their armament transportation on a hostile shore in the face of enemy fire would require the development of new types of ship's unheard of in othordox Navies-so an ious Force was conceived to fight an Amphibious War. f The problem of beaching the Army on wilderness shores, far from any wharfs or cranes, was solved by the development of various Landing and Ships-basically, shallow draft vessels that could steam right up onthe beach, drop a ramp built into their bows, allowing men and vehicles to move over that ramp onto the beach. , The LCVP lLanding Craft Vehicle Personnell became the basic small unit Amphibious Warfare. Each carried 36 men fully loaded, or with fewer men, either a lf4 ton truck or artillery piece or similar cargo could be substituted. Next in size came the LCM C120 men capacity or medium tankl, then the LCT, LCI, LSM, and the largest--the LST. ' These craft were suitable for actually landing on the beach, but the smaller models were handicapped by not being able to make the long sea voyages required in global warfare, and the larger ships were limited by their com- parative small carrying capacity due to their shallow drafts. T p -Why not put Landing Craft, say LCVPs and LCMs, on a large merchant type ship with considerable cargo capacity? lt could be and was done. Next came the problem of what type of merchant ship-called'Auxiliaries the Navy-to use. At these initial landings, it was found thatif the troops embarked on one ship and their equipment, guns, ammunition, tanks, and , were carried on another ship, all the enemy need do was to put either out of action and the unit was incapacitated. Whereas, if men and equip- were equally divided, the sinking of 'one ship would still knock out only of theattacking force. Therefore, each ship had, as far as possible, to a complete, self contained unit in itself. Thus the Assault Transport, named APA fAuxiliary Personnel Assaultl, designed. Typically she was a medium to large sized Cl3,0UO-l8,UOU gross l merchant type cargo vessel equipped with quarters for troops which were to cargo holds that held combat loaded assault equipment including vehicles. The combat loading system provided that materials needed OI1 the beach, as for example ammunition, were loadedf at the top of the so that they were the first accessible. Materials required last, such as trucks, were at the bottom of the hatch and unloaded last. - U :Numerous LCVP's and LCM's were carried on deck and- were placed in Wdtler by the ship's powerful booms. Operated. in successive waves, these Citcitftwere capable of transporting ,the embarked troops and Qqlllpmeffl ln addition the APA was armed more heavily with anti- thanl any other auxiliary because at thelbeachhead sh'e would in range of enemy air attacks for the entire unloading period. -5, ln launching the intial assaults on Guadalcanal and North Africa in 1942, e ' i '
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Page 14 text:
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