Fairmile H landing craft
The Fairmile H Landing Craft were British landing craft of the Second World War. Initially designed for commando type raids from a base in Britain as a way of probing enemy defenses and tying down additional troops, some were converted into fire support vessels.
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Fairmile H LCI (S) Landing Craft Infantry |
| Completed: | 40 |
| Lost: | 8 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Fairmile H LCI (S) Landing Craft Infantry |
| Displacement: | 63 tons (light) 100 tons (loaded) |
| Length: | 105 ft 1 in (32.03 m) |
| Beam: | 21 ft 4 in (6.50 m) |
| Draught: | 2 ft 10 in (0.86 m) forward, 3 ft 8 in (1.12 m) aft (loaded) |
| Propulsion: | Two 1,120 hp or 1,500 hp supercharged Hall-Scott petrol engines. Silencers fitted. Twin screws. |
| Speed: |
|
| Range: |
330 nmi (610 km; 380 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), 700 NM at 12.5 knots. 4000 gal fuel. |
| Complement: | Crew: 2 officers and 15 men with accommodation. 6 officers and 96 men fully equipped below deck. |
| Armament: | 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon (or more), 2 × .303 Lewis guns. |
| Armour: | 10lb DIHT[1] plating to deck sides, gun positions, generator house and forward bulkhead. 1/4in plating to deck |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Fairmile H LCI (S) Landing Craft Support |
| Completed: | 10 |
| Lost: | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Fairmile H LCS (L) Landing Craft Support |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 105 ft 1 in (32.03 m) |
| Beam: | 21 ft 5 in (6.53 m) |
| Draught: | 2 ft 3 in (0.69 m) forward, 3 ft 0 in (0.91 m) aft (light) 3 ft 8 in (1.12 m) forward, 3 ft 4 in (1.02 m) aft (loaded) |
| Propulsion: | Two 1,120 hp or 1,500 hp supercharged Hall-Scott petrol engines (fitted with silencers) driving twin screws. |
| Speed: |
|
| Range: | 700 nmi (1,300 km; 810 mi) at 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph) and 4,000 gallons of fuel. |
| Complement: | Crew: 2 officers and 23 men with accommodation. |
| Armament: |
1 × Ordnance QF 6 pounder in a tank turret 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 1 × twin 0.5-inch Vickers machine gun on power-operated mounting 2 × .303 Lewis guns. 1 × 4-inch smoke mortar |
| Armour: |
10lb DIHT plating to deck, hull sides and gun positions. 1/4in plating to deck |
Two variants were developed:
- The Fairmile H LCI (S)
This was the Landing Craft Infantry (Small) "LCI(S)" boat.
- The Fairmile H LCS (L)
This was a Landing Craft Support (LCS) boat fitted with extra weapons to give fire support to landing craft particularly in being able to provide some anti-tank capability. This was achieved by the simple expediency of mounting a tank turret complete with its gun on the forward deck.
The usual Fairmile construction techniques were used with all items prefabricated and supplied in kit form to boatyards for assembly and fitting out.
See also
Notes
- from "D1 Heat Treated"
References
- Lambert, John and Ross, Al . Allied Coastal Forces of World War Two, Volume I : Fairmile designs and US Submarine Chasers. 1990. ISBN 978-0-85177-519-7.