At no other time in the world's history was the use of sea-borne invasion so great as it was during World War II. There were literally dozens of events in Europe and in the Pacific islands that required the invading army to storm the beaches in order to bring the war to the enemy. This required the use of a variety of landing craft to haul troops and equipment. During this time, a variety of craft were developed of all sizes, depending on what was to be transported.

Some were designed to be in the first wave of the invasion. These were generally somewhat small craft that carried only a limited number of troops, but were built in large numbers as many were expected to be lost. Then there were those whose job was to bring ashore larger numbers of troops once the beachhead was secure. It is in that category that we fit the LCI or Landing Craft, Infantry. There were two main designs of ship, an early version with ramps on the side to disembark troops and a later variant that had a bow ramp similar to that of the large LST. These ships were not designed for long sea voyages and were only to hold troops for a day or two, but they were quite useful and successful in their deployment and use.

In fact, so successful were these ships that many of them were converted to what are basically gun boats. These modified ships carried either a variety of gun weapons, mostly 20mm and 40mm guns with some having 3 or 5 inch mounts) or as rocket or mortar ships, capable of putting hundreds of rounds into the enemy beachhead. These ships were used with great success to help 'soften up' the beach just prior to the first wave of troops, and as mobile artillery once these troops were ashore.

Author Gordon Rottman covers the full story of the LCI and its many different variants. This is further enhanced by a superb choice of period photos as well as cut-aways of the craft and the outstanding illustrations of Peter Bull. Though most of these ships were withdrawn from service after WWII, some saw use during Korea and a few were even brought back for use in Vietnam. Today, only one LCI and one LCM are still extant as a tribute to these strudy ships and the service they provided.

All of this and more are contained within the pages of this excellent reference book that is also a great read. It is one of those that your editor found to be particularly engaging and I give it my highest recommendation.

 July 2009

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