Even during the 1930’s, nations that supported large naval forces never envisioned the type of mass landings that were going to be necessary during World War Two.  Many nations had marine forces amongst their armed forces but even the largest such as the U.S.A., Great Britain, Japan tended to place their units on board the larger capital warships and only a few sustained the cost of smaller dedicated naval ships to the strategic concept of large-scale amphibious landings.

Thus, when the true extent of World War Two unfolded, and the strategic planners at the heart of those armed forces engaged in winning the war realised that new fronts had to be opened and by offensives launched from the sea, it was to the existing merchant fleets of the world that they turned. In the U.S.A. attention swung quickly towards negotiations and discussions with the large shipyards as to how best to provide large capacity ships with dedicated designs for transporting and landing tens of thousands of troops. The need was almost immediate. If counter-attacks were to be launched against Japanese and German held locations then, rather than spend months on plans for new ships that would require new basins and yards, why not look for existing ships and designs and convert them into the LSI (L) that were needed? This leads us to one of the most underrated and yet pivotal classes of ships in the US Merchant Fleet – the C1 cargo ships built for the U.S. Maritime Commission both before and during World War Two.

An early Type C1-A freighter the USS Fomalhaut c.1940

An early Type C1-A freighter the USS Fomalhaut c.1940

Some ship yards would go on to build dedicated troopships for crossing the Atlantic or Pacific, others would continue to build armed freighters and Liberty Ships of the C1 class but these were not designed to get combat formations close to shore and be able to either disembark their men onto Landing Craft Assault boats or indeed carry their own complement of LCA’s. One group of ships that this job went to was a variant of the C1 Cargo ship – the C1-S-AY1. With some of the hulls already under construction in 1941, the US. Maritime Commission was able to divert some ships designed for cargo use into large scale infantry amphibious assault ships – or the LSI (L) – and these ships were therefore remodelled by the Consolidated Steel Corporation out of their Wilmington dockyards in 1942-43.

 

The SS Empire Javelin was one of a class of thirteen C1-S-AY1 ships built directly for the British Merchant Fleet which came under the control of the Royal Navy for amphibious operations. Originally named the SS Cape Lobos. Note her British Thornycroft LCA’s on davits along her sides and fore and aft guns. Image courtesy of Maritime Quest.

The SS Empire Javelin was one of a class of thirteen C1-S-AY1 ships built directly for the British Merchant Fleet which came under the control of the Royal Navy for amphibious operations. Originally named the SS Cape Lobos. Note her British Thornycroft LCA’s on davits along her sides and fore and aft guns. Image courtesy of Maritime Quest.

 

Thirteen C1-S-AY1 ships, each originally launched with the name ‘Cape’ were transferred to the British fleets where they were renamed the ‘Empire’ class. At 9,000 tones displacement, each took on a British Merchant Navy crew of 250 plus a Royal navy detachment for their gunnery and to man the landing craft. The SS Empire Javelin became home to the 551st Landing Craft Flotilla for the Normandy Landings and, able to carry 18 LCA’s and 1,400 men, she landed the 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry of the 29th Infantry Division on to Dog Green Beach on 6th June 1944.

 

HMS Glengyle (9,000 tonnes) would have become a passenger ship had she not been converted into an LSI (L) in 1940. Pictured here as part of the allied landings at Salerno in 1943. Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London.

HMS Glengyle (9,000 tonnes) would have become a passenger ship had she not been converted into an LSI (L) in 1940. Pictured here as part of the allied landings at Salerno in 1943. Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London.

But of course, there were numerous other LSI (L) variants that also served in different theatres of war. The British fleet created its own ‘First Four’ LSI (L)’s out of the conversion of suitable existing cargo or passenger ships. Suitable candidates for the British approach to amphibious landings needed to be faster than a freighter, with a low draft and able to have davits fitted in order to lower landing craft into the water from the sides of ships – the United States Marines however were more often lowered into their Higgins boats down the sides of ships by scramble nets. The British ships of the ’Glen’ class – Glengyle, Glenearn, Glenroy and Breconshire were passenger liners destined for work in the Far East before they were converted to carry troops into amphibious landings. HMS Glengyle could carry 700 troops and 12 landing craft and she was in the Bardia Raid of 1941, the evacuation of Greece, the Dieppe Raid in 1942 and the allied invasions of Sicily and Salerno in 1943.

Even the Dutch Navy contributed to the fleet of LSI’s that the allies could utilise in their amphibious landings and the Dutch continental steamers the Queen Emma and Princess Beatrix, although these were both LSI (M) or medium ships at 4,000 tons, landed troops at Dieppe, Sicily, Normandy and southern France.

Although the USA was able to manufacture hundreds of LCI’s for different uses during the war, these should not become confused with the LCI (L). One of the ships of this class leased to the British on D-Day was LCI(L) 502 which landed British troops onto Gold Beach. Built specifically for this task in the United States in 1942, LCA 502 became one of hundreds of smaller 380 ton ships that still carried the LCI (L) identification and acted just as their much larger and older predecessors had done - the ‘Mother Ship’ throughout a landing – part transportation, part hospital, part Cassino, part church, part map room and part mortuary. Without them, the war could not have been won.

LCA 502 was one of the new generations of LCI (L) ships ready for the invasions of axis powers across the world. Smaller and faster and able to land 300 men.

LCA 502 was one of the new generations of LCI (L) ships ready for the invasions of axis powers across the world. Smaller and faster and able to land 300 men.

 

Philip Kay-Bujak is a retired Headteacher and author. His recent books include The Bravest Man In the British Army (2018), The Life of Cicero (2023) and Empire Javelin: D Day Assault Ship (2024). He lives in East Sussex, UK.