One I missed, could not see it mentioned elsewhere. Repeated from May, on iplayer for a while. BBC iPlayer - The Boats That Built Britain: World War Two Landing Craft
I don't bloody believe it! An LCVP? British? Mind you, we did order Eurekas before the USN/MC. Thanks for the link, though.
I don't bloody believe it! An LCVP? British? Don't think it was claimed to be. Mind you, we did order Eurekas... Developed at TRE in 1941?
Perhaps I should suspend comment until I have actually seen it but from what I have heard the programme seems to have been mis-named. It is (apparently) largely about the LCVP or Higgins boat with little or no reference to the larger Landing Craft (which is my particular area, hence lack of urgency in watching this programme). OK Infantry LC were needed, and lots of 'em, but Churchill understood from Gallippoli in WW1 that specialist Landing Craft were needed to land troops, tanks and large amounts of cargo on beaches because harbours would be heavily defended. Various marks of LC were produced very quickly and did sterling and vital work in many ops/theatres, often overlooked in Naval history accounts. Don't want to go off too much on this, could go on all night, but this series seems to be dealing with (so far) exclusively wooden vessels. No steel ships included so far as far as I know. Mike
Don't think it was claimed to be. Maybe not (actually planning to sit down and watch it tonight) but though we used LCVPs, I can't quite see how they can be said to have 'built Britain'. Developed at TRE in 1941? Not the radio beacon in this case. The 'original' Higgins boat was also called the Eureka, supposedly because of a happy accident in construction that created a better-performing hull. Pop-culture seems to give Higgins the credit for putting a ramp on a boat when even the Yanks admit that it was inspired by the Japanese; and it wasn't a new idea when they thought of it. Most of the landing craft concepts were conceived here, with the Americans refining them and putting them into mass production.
Just watched this on i-player with mixed opinions. It becomes clear that the reason for choosing an LCVP is because some chap in Nottingham has a working example [all praise to him] whereas there are no LCA or LCM1 afloat. There were plenty of comments to dissagree with but also some good archive footage and it was wonderfull to see the preserved boat doing it's stuf. Noel
Got round to it today. Enjoyed it; don't have enough knowledge to spot any mistakes but it was indeed nice to see the thing whizzing around in the river. I'm also oddly tempted to take a skip to the water as that looked like fun. "The worker that relaxes, is helping the Axis" slogan in the Higgins factory made me laugh. Not heard that one before. Only on iPlayer for another 2 or 3 days, so get in if you fancy it.
The whole series has been excelent and great to see Tom on the screen. For those non boatie types, Tom is quite well liked, he has vast experience and many book under his belt. I quite like him too hes does that 'bit too eccentric enthusiast' who is a little to close to his chosen sport so well. And like many sailors. he likes his bikes too. Recommend you watch the other too, if you get the chance. BBC have been doing a whole series of programs about the see, most have been of very high quality. another great one is the Timothy Spall one, which is great fun. Kev
