How an often overlooked WW2-era shipbuilder designed the boat that Eisenhower said “won the war for us”

  • The Higgins boat is one of the iconic ships of World War II.
  • The Higgins boat, known as the LCVP, brought US and allied troops ashore across Europe and the Pacific.
  • The man behind it, Andrew Higgins, was a prolific inventor who made boats during the war.

The day after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, New Orleans shipbuilder Andrew Higgins filed with the US Patent Office an idea for a landing craft that could ferry American soldiers from ships at sea to enemy-controlled beaches.

Two and a half years later, on the morning of June 6, 1944, LCVPs—short for Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel—designed and built by the Higgins firm, unloaded wave after wave of American soldiers on Utah Beach in Normandy during D.-Day landing.

Equipped with an innovative ramp design, two 30-caliber machine guns, and room for about 36 infantrymen, the Higgins Boats proved useful on D-Day. These landings, still the largest naval invasion in history, marked a turning point in the war.

American troops aboard an LCVP head to Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. US Army.

The invasion of Normandy was a harrowing task of unprecedented proportions.

To succeed, the Allies needed the ability to land troops, materiel, and other equipment ashore littered with fortifications and obstacles erected by the Nazi defenders. Higgins’ landing craft made this possible.

General Dwight Eisenhower later called Higgins “the man who won the war for us”. The shipbuilder’s reputation extended to Germany, where Adolf Hitler reluctantly referred to him as the “New Noah”.

Who was Andrew Higgins?

Andrew Higgins (center) designed several types of landing craft that were invaluable during World War II. National World War II Museum

Higgins produced over 20,000 boats during his long career. His landing craft were used in every major amphibious operation of World War II from the coasts of Europe to the Pacific Islands.

“He was the right person with the right ideas and the right drive at the right time,” Joshua Schick, curator and restoration manager at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, told Insider.

Two of Higgins’ landing craft are on display in the museum’s main pavilion, which also named its World War II-themed Hilton property the Higgins Hotel and Conference Center after the hometown hero.

Higgins, whom Schick called “a flamboyant industrialist,” was relatively new to building military hardware when World War II began, but he had a strong track record of entrepreneurship, innovation, and problem-solving.

Production line at the Higgins plant. National World War II Museum

Born in Nebraska in 1886, Higgins was a newspaper distributor and founded a lawn mowing company as a child. While serving in the Nebraska Army National Guard, he encountered boats that were used to move troops across the water during militia maneuvers on the Platte River.

He moved to Mobile, Alabama in 1906 to work in lumber. By the 1930s, he had founded the Higgins Lumber and Export Company and was working as a lumber maker in New Orleans. In the 1920s, Higgins designed the Eureka, an oil-driving vessel that caught the attention of the US Navy for its effectiveness in shallow waters.

As the US military looked for new ways to move large numbers of troops and supplies to the beaches during amphibious operations, Higgins Industries faced huge demand and explosive growth.

Anticipating the government’s need for boats and the size of future contracts, Higgins began building factories before the war broke out and began building boats from them before the factories were completed.

American soldiers are loaded onto the Higgins boat to disembark at Anzio, Italy, January 1944. Photo12/UIG/Getty Images

Eventually Higgins received major government contracts that allowed him to expand production at an unprecedented rate and make a significant contribution to the war effort.

Higgins and his staff have developed a reputation for fast and innovative design and construction. In one instance, Navy officials expressed interest in seeing a design for a new 56-foot tank landing craft three days before a scheduled visit to see a different type of landing craft.

Using a tugboat they had on hand and working without blueprints, Higgins and his engineers built a new landing craft, which they successfully tested for Navy officials during their visit.

The LCVP for which Higgins became famous was based on a Japanese landing craft used in the late 1930s. Higgins made a layout based on a photograph of a Japanese ship. Within a month of starting work on the new boat, tests on Lake Pontchartrain showed that her design was viable.

Each LCVP could carry 36 combat paratroopers or 8,000 pounds of cargo, and 23,000 of these aircraft were built during the war.

Higgins’ 36-foot LCVP could carry 36 infantrymen or a jeep and a dozen soldiers, as well as torpedo enemy ships. National World War II Museum

The design and manufacture of amphibious assault vehicles was the focus of his organization, but he also pursued other initiatives, at one point receiving a contract to produce carbon components and metal parts for the Manhattan Project.

According to Schick, Higgins worked hard and innovated obsessively. By 1943, Higgins Industries had about 20,000 employees in seven factories.

His businesses spread across New Orleans and expanded into new businesses such as truck repairs and the manufacture of aircraft components, plastics, and other equipment. “He just explodes on stage,” Schick said.

Jerry E. Strahan, author of Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War II, details Higgins’ progressive and performance-oriented approach to business.

Australian troops in the LCVP landing on Balikpapan in Borneo in July 1945 Bettmann/Getty Images

Higgins rejected discriminatory hiring practices that excluded women and people of color from work during the war. He prioritized hiring people who could do the job. Higgins also felt that illness would cost productivity dearly, and opened a clinic to provide his workers with free medical care.

Higgins remained at the helm of his company until he suffered a stroke and died in 1952.

Schick hopes that Higgins’ legacy will be celebrated through museum tributes, especially at the Higgins Hotel, located on Andrew Higgins Boulevard next to the museum. The hotel lobby displays a 1943 portrait of Higgins that once hung in his office.

“We’re looking at all these nameless people who built this huge machine that ended up winning the war, and it’s really a great symbol of democracy’s arsenal,” Schick said of Higgins’ work. “I encourage people to read more. There is always something to learn about Andrew Higgins.”

Kathy Sanders is a journalist based in New York. Her reporting has landed her in prisons, JDate, the CIA and the White House. Follow her to @KatieSSanders. Mara Storey is the Human Resources Analytics Manager at Deloitte. She lives in Nashville. Follow her to @mtruslowstorey.

Content Source

News Press Ohio – Latest News:
Columbus Local News || Cleveland Local News || Ohio State News || National News || Money and Economy News || Entertainment News || Tech News || Environment News

Related Articles

Back to top button