Higgins Industries

USA Est. 1930 Closed 1952

Andrew Higgins built the boat that won World War II. The LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) was a shallow-draft, bow-ramp landing craft that put troops on beaches from North Africa to Normandy to Okinawa. Eisenhower himself said Higgins was the man who won the war. The design came from Higgins' experience building shallow-water boats for trappers and oilmen in the Louisiana bayous.

Heritage

Higgins Industries produced over 20,000 boats during WWII, more than any other company. The New Orleans yard employed 30,000 workers at peak and was notably integrated, with Black and white workers on the same lines years before the civil rights movement forced the issue elsewhere. The company didn't survive the peace, but the LCVP design influenced every amphibious landing craft that followed.

Vessels (1)

Higgins Boat (LCVP)

Eisenhower said Andrew Higgins was 'the man who won the war for us.' The LCVP — Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel — was the boat that put soldiers on the beach. At Normandy, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, North Africa, Sicily. The bow ramp was Higgins' innovation, borrowed from boats he'd seen in the Louisiana bayou. When that ramp dropped, you were looking at the beach, and the beach was looking at you. 23,398 were built. Without them, no amphibious invasion was possible.

1942-1945 · warship