Surviving World War Two LCVPs   Surviving Post-World War Two Wooden LCVPs   Surviving Post-World War Two Fiberglass LCVPs   Surviving French Post-World War Two LCVPs   Replica LCVPs
Surviving LCVPs - Higgins Boats
A Comprehensive Survey of Existing Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel / Higgins Boats

This page updated 12-9-2024.

An American Auto Industry in World War Two Special Edition

The LCVP was used around the globe during World War Two and operated by various American military units.  In this case U.S. Navy Seabees are ferrying troops from General George Patton's Third Army across the Rhine River in March 1945.

It was never my original intention to research and attempt to determine how many and where the original LCVPs are still located.  Originally, I was just interested in whether the LCVPs I found had engines built by the American Auto Industry, such as the Gray Marine 64HN9/Detroit Diesel 6-71.  I then realized that while there were many sources of information of where other World War Two vehicles such as Sherman tanks still existed and were located, little existed on the LCVP.  What existed in several cases did not seem all that accurate or well investigated.   I therefore started my own research, when it became obvious that this subject had not really been fully addressed.

In November 2018, I published my page "Surviving World War Two Landing Craft and Ship Photos," which contained photos of known World War Two landing craft that I had visited.  That page also contained a listing of "Known original LCVPs still in existence."  To me, the term 'original LCVP' equates to one of the 23,397 LCVPs built by any one of seven different companies during World War Two.  Almost immediately, I realized the "Surviving World War Two Landing Craft and Ship Photos" page was trying to cover too many types of landing craft, and not doing it nearly as well as I had wanted.  Also, I began to realize that the LCVP story was not as straight forward as I had originally thought.  It was complicated.  As I began to research what limited resources are available on the LCVP, I became aware that information provided on the internet, and consequently on my webpage, was inaccurate.  Therefore, I have now broken out the LCVP information from the rest of the World War Two landing craft and created this new page.

My research over the past year and a half has led me to the conclusion that there are eight World War Two-era LCVPs that can presently be verified.  This is down from the twenty I originally thought.  At the same time, I realized that several LCVPs that have been identified as original World War Two boats were actually built in the 1950's.  There are also a number of LCVPs on display or operating in France.  My research indicates that the French built these LCVPs after World War Two.  Finally, in the 1960s, there was a group of fiberglass LCVPs that were built for the U.S. Navy.  I have gathered as much information as I have been able to find to identify the remaining LCVPs of all four types.  Below is what I have learned about surviving LCVPs.

• Original World War Two Wooden 36-foot LCVPs -  Records show that there were 23,397 of these built by seven different companies during the war.  It should be noted that these were wooden boats that were expendable.  Being of wooden construction, they would not last very long after the end of the war.  If they were not sunk or damaged during the war, wood rot, insects, and worms would not allow them to last for a long time.  This is why the U.S. Navy started building new ones in the 1950s. 

• Post-World War Two wooden 36-foot LCVPs - The U.S. Navy ordered 1,465 of these from 1953 to 1958 to replace the original LCVPs that were ending their useful life. 

• Post-World War Two Fiberglass 36-foot LCVPs - The U.S. Navy ordered 452 of these from 1965 to 1969.  Several of these are still operating and being used for World War Two re-enactments. 

• Post-World War Two French-built Wooden 36-foot LCVPs -  A researcher colleague of mine told me that the ones in French museums and privately owned in France were built by the French after World War Two.  My research confirms this.  These show several distinct differences from the wooden LCVPs built in the United States.

• Post-World War Two French-built Steel 36-foot LCVPs (EA) - There were approximately 60 of these built beginning in 1950 for use in the French Indochina war.  These were designated as EAs for Assault Boats.  These heavier steel EAs used the Gray-Detroit Diesel 6-71 engine, making them slower and more sluggish to operate than the American version.  They apparently were built in Indochina.  At present, none are known to still exist.

• Replicas - These are also included for information purposes.

• Unknown - This is classification for reported LCVPs, but without enough documentation nor photos to verify their existence or type.

The information on this and the related pages contains, to the best of my ability, the data that is available.  As new or more accurate information is found, I shall update this webpage.