Hi, everyone!

I really enjoy these forums - it is so great to see people sharing their hard work and the experience it gave them. I have been searching the Internet now for several months; I have spoken to both the D-Day Museum at Higgins Industries (where the LCM was designed) and Battleship Cove (where there is a skeleton hull on display); I have contacted the Washington Navy Yard and other naval offices; and I have asked every Navy veteran of any era that I meet. No one has a clue how this thing works, or how to find someone who knows!

My worst fear after my diorama is done is that some veteran will look at it and say, "That's great, but why does the pilot have the engines in reverse when he's trying to drive up the beach?" I saw an operations manual for sale online once, but it was way out of my budget - I've already spent over $400 on reference books, kits, water products, etc...

How the heck does this thing work? I assume it's the pilot who lowers the ramp, but what is the mechanism by which this is done? The D-Day Museum guy said, "Well, there is a winch on it..." Sure, for pulling it closed. Thanks! And what's with that part in the Italeri kit that is mounted on some sort of a pintle near the pilot's feet? And how about the pedal - it is a pedal, isn't it? - in the pilot house? What does that do? And that shelf thing above the control panel - does that have a function?

Any insight will definitely be appreciated!

John A.

Serenity Now!!!

I would think from the angle of the ramp that it's just a gravity feed. They must just release the gear and the ramp drops. I don't know about the LCM but there are a few handles and valves on my old Lindberg LCVP in the driver's compartment.

That reminds me of something my dad once did! He was a military historian, and his passion was doing figures. At one point he was doing some Civil War figures and wanted to do one of Confederate General Richard Ewell. The General had been wounded and had one of his legs amputated, and therein lies the story.

For years, my dad searched through all the references he could find and all they said was that he'd had "a leg", or "his leg" amputated, but not WHICH ONE! So finally he made TWO figures, identical except with respect to which leg was missing. He displayed the one with the right leg amputated for quite some time until one day a serious scholar mentioned to him that the figure was incorrect in that it had the wrong leg missing.

My dad immediately reached into a drawer beneath the display cabinet, retrieved the OTHER figure, and promptly set THAT one on the horse and profusely thanked the slightly bemused historian for finally solving the mystery for him!!

He was a real character!!!

Tom

I love that story!! Thanks for sharing it...

John A. :-)

SPECIAL INTERESTS

The special incidents which are of interest are the loss of the medium tank during the assault landing on ENGEBI Island and the decision to transport the tanks for a distance of twenty five miles in LCM's rather than loading the boats into the ship.

As to the loss of the tank which sank when the LCM began to flood, it does not appear to have been caused by enemy shell fire hitting the boat. All boat coxswains were directed to lower the ramp as quickly as possible once the boat is on the beach. This is necessary to reduce the time that the boat may be under small arms fire, to permit the tank to proceed quickly onto the beach and to reduce the possibility of the boat broaching.

In this case, the port engine of LCM-6 had stopped running because of over-heating. The boat was proceeding on only the starboard engine. The coxswain, after leaving the Line of Departure and approaching the beach began to prepare the ramp for lowering. Apparently, the foot release mechanism was operated inadvertently during the excitement and the ramp opened three or four inches and the boat began to flood. Had the port engine been running the ramp could have been closed and no ill effect resulted.

At this time the tank crew had already manned the tank and secured the hatches inside. Every effort was made by the boat crew to warn the tank crew to get out of the tank but the hatches could not be opened from outside. As the boat continued to flood, it listed and capsized. One man escaped from the tank as it sank. Action has been taken to direct all LCM coxswains to keep all ramp holding devices in place until the boat first touches the beach and the tank crews should not lock the hatches until the boat is firmly beached.

C.L.C. ATKESON, COMMANDING OFFICER

Action Report, ENIWETOK Atoll, Marshall Islands, 17 Feb. to 23 Feb. 1944

Thanks for posting that story, BM2! It confirms what I have learned about operating the LCM(3) in the last month or so. I hope someone else out there will be able to take advantage of what I have learned, and am continuing to learn.

First, I have found an operator manual written for both the LCM(3) and the LCVP. It is called "Skill in the Surf" and it was written in February 1945 by the Landing Craft School at the Amphibious Training Base at Coronado, California. It is posted on the HyperWar website:

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/SurfSkill/index.html

One of the things spelled out in there is the method of lowering the LCM ramp in an assault landing: At the moment I am showing in my diorama, the coxswain would be stepping on the pedal to release the ramp latch. His left hand would be on a lever mounted on the wheelhouse next to the port engine control lever. The lever in question controlled the direction of the ramp winch - forward to go down, back to go up. The winch speed was controlled by the port engine throttle. The coxswain was supposed to ride in just behind a breaking wave as far as he could go. When the boat stopped completely, he would push the winch lever forward; after the troops departed, one of the deckhands was supposed to sweep the ramp edges with a broom before raising the ramp, as debris wedged into the gasket could prevent a watertight seal. If for some reason (broken cable, non-functional port engine) the ramp could not be raised with the winch, he was to attach a rope to the top of the ramp and haul it closed with a block & tackle. Sounds simple enough to do under fire, no?

Other nuggets in this manual include checklists for the additional gear that was to be carried in each type of boat. Did the Italeri LCM(3) come with an anchor? I can't seem to find one, and honestly I wouldn't have thought twice about it. But then again, that's why I'm an Army guy!

I have also just made contact with a guy who was an engineer and coxswain on both types of craft. He trained in WWII but the war was over before he arrived in theatre; he reenlisted to serve in this capacity during Korea. I haven't been able to pepper him with questions yet, but he's a great guy. He's going to be a big help.

Anyway, that's it for now... Happy modeling!

John A.

Hi John,

Many thanks for this site reference and the updated info on the control gear.

Modellers all over the world will now be checking the position of the 'skippers hand/foot' - LOL - me included.

Thanks again

Al

Edit

Just finished having a quick look on the site. Excellent find John, just about everything one would need to know. The equipment listings are a great addition not to mention the explanation of how the boats functioned etc. More reading required.

Great find.

Cheers

Al

Here, here, John, what a great find!
Thanks for putting up that link, mate, it's now into my favorites in my reference file, for sure...good detective work!
~Gunny

Hey John!!

I guess when it rains it pours.

At the AMPS Nationals, I sought out vendor Mike Powell from Easy 1 Productions. Mike sells copies of old Army Technical Manuals on CD (they also include walk-around photos). I picked up a couple I knew he had and I wanted and he asked me if I needed any more. I asked if he had anything on LCMs and he pulls out a CD containing "Engineer Amphibian Troops Manual for Boat Crews," which contains much of the same information (and more) found on the HyperWar link you provided.

Easy 1 Productions has a Website: http://www.easy1productions.com/

Excellent stuff! Now we almost know too much!

Wow, Thanks, Bob! I am definitely going to look into that! A friend of mine was at AMPS; he said it was well worth the trip from Virginia. It looks like you picked up some good stuff; I hope you enjoyed the show too.

Me, I'll be at MFCA this weekend, sitting at our club's table, building my Weasel to go in the LCM...

John A.

Hey, John!
I just want to thank you again for the link that you put up in this thread, mate...I was studying the pages in the manual last night and this is truly a fantastic find! I'm going through the process of setting up a hardcopy version for myself, terrific info! If you guys haven't seen this yet, it definitely warrants a closer look!
~Gunny

I found this while researching my father's WWII history. My father was the coxswain on this ill fated LCM.