World War II Database

In a naval war, the larger capital ships unfairly gathered the attention of the world. Ships such as Bismarck, Repulse, Enterprise, and Yamato, being single ships, overshadowed the numerous smaller ships or craft that collectively furthered the war effort for their respective nations than these giants. An example of these small workhorses were LCI and LSM landing craft.

Landing Craft, Infantry and Fire Support by Gordon Rottman provided a brief look at these small vessels beginning from the original needs drawn up by the British Royal Navy, through the development of the variants, to their roles during WW2. Particularly attention was given to the technical specifications of these craft, carefully noting the engines, armament, internal layout, cargo hold capacities, and other details. Meanwhile, cutaways and other drawings by Peter Bull, accompanied by period photographs, provided visuals to aid Rottman's descriptions. 48 pages seemed to be too little to cover so much ground for all the contributions that the 923 LCI craft and 558 LSM ships made toward the Allied war effort, however, it still proved to be a nice book on the topic.