Preserved LCA?

[cmperry4]

I was admiring the editorial cartoonist's authentic rendering of an LCA (Landing Craft Assault) in Saturday's National Post (re the separatists' flag flap), and I got to wondering whether there is a preserved or restored LCA anywhere in the world, or in Canada. Been searching around MLU forums and the web but haven't turned one up yet.

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

Mark,
The Port of Montreal have(or had)one up on a wooden platform along the pier road in the east end of the harbour.Used to see it everyday when I was a marine cargo surveyor.It was painted blue(the port's vessel colors).It looked like it was used in a maintenance role but can't confirm if it is still there.Maybe contact Frank Martini at the head office.He may be able to help you.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by cmperry4
I got to wondering whether there is a preserved or restored LCA anywhere in the world

Mark, there used to be an authentic Landing Craft, Assault used during the Normandy landings at the D-Day Museum at Arromanches, France. However, as it was in a deplorable condition, it was scrapped - - a few years ago to prevent it from becoming a hazard to the public...

Also see LCVP restoration.

HTH,
Hanno




Source: http://www.dday-overlord.com/Piarmadaeng.htm

[cmperry4]

Thanks for the info - seems unlikely there's an LCA surviving now, which is too bad.
The LCVP restoration reminds me of a summer camp I went to as a a boy, round about 1960 or so. It is on an island in Lake of the Woods, Ontario, and campers were transported on a sort of launch/cabin cruiser. I was told the camp (Pioneer Camp) had only recently stopped using a "wartime" landing craft, and it was sitting derelict in a backside bay of the camp island. I remember having a half-sunken weathered hulk pointed out to me, and my mind's eye seems to recall a Higgins-boat type of craft, but I now wonder if it might in fact have been an LCA. With Lake of the Woods bordered by Canada and U.S. i t could have been either type, I suppose.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Speaking of LCA's, here's an interesting pic of one being taken to the water...

Source: http://www.tankmuseum.co.uk/newspack_0205.html

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Hanno Spoelstra
there used to be an authentic Landing Craft, Assault used during the Normandy landings at the D-Day Museum at Arromanches, France. However, as it was in a deplorable condition, it was scrapped - - a few years ago to prevent it from becoming a hazard to the public...

For pictures of what was - to my knowledge - the last survivng LCA, see http://www.mach2.fr/fotlcag.htm

H.

[cmperry4]

Looked at the pics - that one seems to be in presentable condition. I suppose most of them were left over there, for obvious reasons. I searched the Canadian War Museum's online collection, and there are many drawings paintings and so on with LCAs, but no actual boat preserved as far as I can tell. Too bad.

[Alex van de Wetering]

I just wanted to put this thread to your attention again.

Does anyone know of any surviving genuine LCA's?

Was the Arromanches LCA really scrapped or was it given to a collector? Does anyone know the true story?



source:

www.strijdbewijs.nl

Alex

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Alex van de Wetering
Was the Arromanches LCA really scrapped or was it given to a collector? Does anyone know the true story?

Alex, see the pic below (source: hultongetty.com Image #56209263). It shows the LCA when it was still at the museum in Arromanches. As you can see it was not in a very good condition, and I am not surprised the museum wanted to get rid of it. If it ended up with a collector? I can only hope so. But not if the scrapman was there first...

[servicepub (RIP)]

Originally posted by Garry Shipton
Mark,
The Port of Montreal have(or had)one up on a wooden platform along the pier road in the east end of the harbour.Used to see it everyday when I was a marine cargo surveyor.It was painted blue(the port's vessel colors).It looked like it was used in a maintenance role but can't confirm if it is still there.Maybe contact Frank Martini at the head office.He may be able to help you.

Hi Garry,

I contacted the Port of Montreal. Their Communications Office looked into it and say that they do not have one and was I perhaps thinking of the Sea Truck owned by SIMEC. See link
More info at this link
It would be nice to find one for preservation. I'm sure that we could find space at Swords and Ploughshares.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Alex, see the pic below (source: hultongetty.com Image #56209263).

Yes, those were the days. I have seen it several times and I still think it is a shame that we have lost this true D-day relic. Of course it is quite an undertaking for a museum to keep an LCA in good shape with the salty sea next door. But I still don't understand why they scrapped it and than made a bad replica of an LCA nose section for indoor use in the museum. I hope it ended up at a collector and it will pop up one day.....LCA were largely made from wood, so not that interesting for a scrapper..(this is waht you would call wishful thinking).
Besides the 17pounder also diappeared at the Arromanches museum.

Maybe one day an LCA will pop up and someone will restore it for preservation, just like the LCVP's that have popped up over the past few years.

Alex

[Dwayne Hordij]

I was there in 1989 when it was in much better shape. It being my first time to Europe, I figured there would be alot of them around....guess that isn't the case.

Dwayne

[Hanno Spoelstra]

For comparison, an excellent wartime colour pic of LCA 1377 carriying US troops.

[Tony Smith]

Maybe start looking in Northern Queensland!
The AWM site shows many pics of LCAs used in training in North Queensland and in Operations in the Islands (Morotai, Borneo, Dutch East Indies, etc). They were ex D-Day vets, crewed by the Royal Marines.

Caption to AWM 018027:

"Queensland. 22 January 1945. LCA (landing craft, assault) boat manned by Royal Marines are co-operating with AIF in amphibious landing training. These LCAs were used in the landing on D-Day at Normandy and were manned by Royal Marines. On arriving at this locality in Australia, the Royal Marines were issued with Australian felt hats and wear them with their famous Marine badge in place of the rising sun."

[Tony Smith]

Caption from another pic AWM 018034 (which is not need here):
"Queensland. 22 January 1945. Informal group portrait of AIF veterans of the Middle East with Royal Marines who took part in the Normandy landing. Royal Marines who took part in the landing on D-Day on the Normandy front, are still manning the same landing craft used on that landing and are co-operating with famous AIF Divisions in amphibious landing operations in Australia. On arriving at this locality, the Royal Marines were issued with Australian felt hats and wear them with their famous Marine badge in place of the rising sun."

[Pete Ashby]

As a child my parents had a weekend caravan by the Thames near Henley.

One summer a bloke moored this big flat fronted thing up near to us and proceeded to build a house boat out of it. My Dad and I used to go and talk to the bloke. My Dad recognised that it was an LCA and the bloke told us he had bought four of them from a yard in Essex and was converting them all to houseboats. Then one morning he was gone and so was the LCA no pictures I'm afraid this sort of thing was not thought unusual in 1963.

There was one that was part sunk in a creek near to Pounds scrap yard Portsmouth in the late 1970’s and 80’s you could see it from the road. But the area has been redeveloped and it must have gone to the big scrap man in the sky.

Sad really when you consider the important role these small craft played in WW11

Pete

[sapper740]

Originally posted by cmperry4
I was admiring the editorial cartoonist's authentic rendering of an LCA (Landing Craft Assault) in Saturday's National Post (re the separatists' flag flap), and I got to wondering whether there is a preserved or restored LCA anywhere in the world, or in Canada. Been searching around MLU forums and the web but haven't turned one up yet.

Mark, there is an LST and an LCVP (Higgins boat) in Evansville, Indiana, both of which are still sea-worthy and are used in D Day reenactments the first weekend of June. The LST was a veteran of Sicily and Normandy and was sold to Greece after the war. An all-veteran crew sailed it back from Greece to Mobile, Alabama, thence up the Mississippi to Evansville. Not an LCA, but interesting none-the-less.

[cmperry4]

I remember reading somewhere about the recovery and voyage of that LST. What a dedicated effort. Speaking of Higgins boats, reminds me of a summer camp I went to as a kid, I guess around 1960, Pioneer Camp on Indian Bay in Lake of the Woods. It is reachable only by boat, so we went over on some sort of launch/fishing boat - I recall it had a sort of cuddy cabin, but I was told the old "landing craft" had recently been replaced, and its hulk was pointed out to me in a small back bay on back of the island. In my mind's eye, I see a Higgins-type boat. Do any other Canadians recall this Pioneer Camp boat and what it might have been?

[Danny]

Hi,
I thought you might be interested in seeing a photo of the remains of an LCA on the River Hamble, Hampshire. The photos were taken a few years ago so I imagine the LCA has deteriorated a bit since the photos were taken.

I can add a couple more if you want.

There was one other LCA on display in Normandy at the Utah Beach museum. Recent photos that I seen show an LCVP on the plinth it was displayed on. Not sure if the LCA was broken up or moved to another area.

There are a few LCA’s in use as houseboats over here, UK, but most seem to have had the armour removed at some time. At the end of WWII you could purchase surplus craft from the Admiralty for around £46 and they could also provide you with a plan on how to convert it into a home.

There is some more information about some surviving Landing Craft in the UK on the British Military Powerboat Trust website. http://bmpt.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=311&PN=2

Regards

Danny

[Alex van de Wetering]

Danny, do you know if the LCA is still there in the river Hamble? I did a search for more pictures last week and stumbled upon a message stating that the local scrappy was asked to remove all wrecks from the Hamble river. It seems there were various wrecks littering the river, ranging from medieval vessels, to WO2 wrecks and more modern examples.

Do you happen to have any pictures of some of the LCA's converted to "houseboats"?. It would be interesting to see if they can still be recognized as such, as most of them would have had the wood replaced with steel by now.

Alex

[Danny]

Hello Alex,
As far as I know the LCA is still there. The photos were taken about ten years ago and I was told recently that the LCA had deteriorated a lot since the photos were taken.

They did start to clear the river up around 1994 when one of the last surviving LCI(s) was broken up. Would not have thought that there was to much left to clear these days. Southampton(?) university were running a survey of the river at one time. Not sure if they still are.

The LCA is not readily accessible as its in the middle of some pretty marshy ground. I made sure I visited it at low tide and still ended up in mud up to my knees at one stage.

Attached are a couple of photos of LCAs at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. These were taken a couple of years ago. The armour was removed from most of the houseboats early on.

The armour seems to have survived on the LCAs that were just left to rot after the owners were finished with them.

There was an LCA sold on eBay recently. It was located in the Milton Keynes area. Another one that had been used as an houseboat.

Hope the above is of use to you. If you have any more questions I will try and answer them.

The forum at the BMPT has changed. The link to the LC thread there is at http://www.bmpt.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=311&PN=1


All The Best

Danny




Milton Keynes houseboat sold on eBay


Location of LCA on River Hamble

[Alex van de Wetering]

Danny and others;...Here is another LCA converted into houseboat for sale on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Static-Housebo...3A1%7C294%3A50

Anyone interested in a full houseboat interior, some timber and windows? I'll keep the hull

Alex

[Jordan Baker]

i wonder if it would make it accros the Atlantic???

[Alex van de Wetering]

The boat sold for 2000 pounds. You wonder if the buyer was interested in the houseboat, or if he was after the LCA remains. Probably the first option.

Alex

[Hanno Spoelstra]

The restoration of LCA 888 - see http://www.landingcraftrestoration.com/

[Alex van de Wetering]

The restoration of LCA 888 - see http://www.landingcraftrestoration.com/

Awesome news, Hanno! Good to see that not one, but four boats will be restored, before all of them have disappeared.

Alex

p.s. would be awesome to see one afloat alongside the french LCVP.

[Ed Storey]

Very good news to see that some LCAs are being restored. I am envious at the restoration projects that are undertaken in Europe.