Battles & Wars › World War II › Arsenal of Democracy: US war production
Higgins Industries and the landing craft
New Orleans; ~20,000 boats 1941–45· Arms maker, factory or program· Arms makers & war industry
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
New Orleans boatbuilder Andrew Jackson Higgins's company, which designed and mass-produced the landing craft that carried Allied troops ashore.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Higgins built the shallow-draft 'Eureka' boat for Louisiana's bayous. After a Marine officer showed him photos of Japanese landing craft with a drop-down bow ramp, he added one, creating the LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel): 36 feet long, carrying about 36 troops or a jeep. His firm grew from about 75 workers to over 20,000, an integrated workforce paid by job rather than by race or sex, and built about 20,000 boats, including PT boats.
Why it matters
His boats let armies land on open beaches almost anywhere, without first capturing a port, from Guadalcanal to Normandy.
How we know
Navy contracts and production records, Higgins company papers, surviving LCVPs, and New Orleans's National WWII Museum, founded there partly because the boats were built in the city.
Still debated
How much Higgins invented versus adapted, including the ramp first seen on Japanese craft, and his long fights with Navy designers over credit and contracts, are still discussed.
Connections (3)
▸Higgins Industries and the landing craft built the LCVPs that landed troops at Omaha BeachWell documented
The connection
Many first-wave troops at Omaha rode Higgins LCVPs from transport ships about 11 miles offshore. Each carried about 30 soldiers and dropped its bow ramp at the surf line. Rough seas, currents and German fire made the run brutal, and troops often waded ashore under machine-gun fire.
When and how
Omaha Beach, Normandy, June 6, 1944; LCVPs crewed by US Navy and Coast Guard sailors, carrying the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions.
How we know
Navy and Army records, survivors' accounts, and photographs such as the Coast Guard's 'Into the Jaws of Death,' taken from an LCVP.
Debates and open questions
Whether launching boats so far offshore, for fear of German coastal guns, needlessly exhausted and scattered the first waves is debated.
▸Higgins Industries and the landing craft landed the Marines in the Guadalcanal campaignWell documented
The connection
On August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division went ashore in Higgins boats, many of them the older ramp-less type that forced men to climb over the sides. Coast Guard coxswains later used them to evacuate trapped Marines; Douglas Munro died shielding one such rescue and received the Medal of Honor.
When and how
Guadalcanal and Tulagi, Solomon Islands, August–September 1942; Signalman First Class Douglas Munro, killed September 27, 1942, near the Matanikau River.
How we know
Navy and Coast Guard records; Munro remains the only Coast Guard member awarded the Medal of Honor.
Debates and open questions
Exactly which mix of boat models landed the first waves varies by account, as ramped LCVPs were only then entering service.
▸Higgins Industries and the landing craft was credited with winning the war by Dwight D. EisenhowerWell documented
The connection
Historian Stephen Ambrose reported that Eisenhower told him in 1964 that 'Andrew Higgins is the man who won the war for us,' because his boats made landings on open beaches possible. Without them, Eisenhower said, the whole strategy of the war would have been different.
When and how
Interviews in 1964 for Ambrose's books; Eisenhower had commanded the Allied landings in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Normandy.
How we know
The quote rests on Ambrose's account, published in his book 'D-Day June 6, 1944' (1994).
Debates and open questions
In 2010 the Eisenhower Library's deputy director questioned how much time Ambrose actually spent with Eisenhower, casting some doubt on quotes he reported.