Landing craft

A landing craft is a type of boat used to convey troops and vehicles on to a shore during an assault from sea to land. Most renowned are the amphibious assault landing craft used to storm the beaches of Normandy during WWII, but there are two kinds:

• The mechanized utility and landing craft, more commonly known as an amphibious landing craft or boat. This was the kind used during the second world war, and while the mechanized landing crafts of today are similar in construction, a lot of improvements have been made. Normally using diesel engines, the best amphibious landing boat(the LCM 8 of the US Navy) are capable of a military lift of 182.89 metric tons at a speed of 22.2 kkph, carrying even heavy equipment like M1 tanks with little trouble. Amphibious landing craft normally mount several machine guns for the personal defense of troops and/or vehicle crews inside it.
• The air cushioned landing craft, or fully amphibious landing craft; is a more modern variation on the amphibious landing boat, that allows troops and material to access more than 70% of the worlds coastline, while only approximately 15% of that coastline is available to conventional landing craft. Air cushion technology has vastly increased the landing capability of the craft, and only few exist outside of the United States Navy, who first received it in 1984. Like the mechanized landing craft, it usually carries several machine guns for personal protection, although it also supports on-board grenade launchers and many different kinds of cannons.