Maritime record MDO47946 - LCVP 120

1984 wreck of small British personnel/vehicle landing ship, which foundered 3 miles NE of Handfast Point while under tow between Poole and the Solent when her bow-ramp opened causing her to flood. She may have been built during WWII as this type of vessel were commonly used in the D-Day landings. The probable location of her remains is recorded as 1521519. Status: Casualty

'A landing craft/vehicle/personnel which foundered whilst on passage under tow when her bow-ramp accidentally dropped open [and caused] the well deck to flood.' (1)

No further information about this particular vessel could be found but much can be conjectured from evidence available about this vessel type.

Sources 2, 3 and 4 show that the vessel type known as LCVP was a small American-built landing-craft commonly used in the D-Day landings (with Normandy landings being widely cited), and also known as a Higgins boat - the name of her designer. She could carry a complement of 36 men. The dimensions given for the craft differ slightly from those given in Source 1, but are very similar and suggest that it is this type of vessel which is reported to have sunk here.

There are a number of WWII vessels which were sunk or simply sank in the area, either as the result of torpedo/gun action or deliberate scuttling so that they could be used as training targets; with a rifle range, submarine practice zone and several German aircraft known to have been shot-down in the vicinity, this area of the coast saw much military action throughout the war so landing craft of that period would not be out of place here and indeed, three other landing craft (of unspecified type) are wrecked around Poole Harbour and listed in Source 5. A craft of this type has been recovered from the Isle of Wight and an example can be seen in the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth. (2)

The fact that the LCVP 120 was under tow when she sank suggests that she was at the end of her useful life, perhaps a fairly old vessel. This too is likely, given the presence in the waters of other vessels which were built during the war and were scrapped or simply sunk following many years of post-war service. Perhaps she was used by the military post-war, until she was beyond repair. Other craft built during WWII but used long after it ended include the ex Admiralty fishing vessel SARATOGA, recorded as 1521463, and the VESPA STAR, another ex-Admiralty fishing vessel which had sunk in 1970 near Poole harbour (but was lifted so no record of her exists).

If the LCVP 120 was indeed a WWII landing craft, then she was probably built of ply-wood (2).
Asterisked information below is known about the vessel, while that without asterisks is conjectured from sources cited above:
Built: 1941 - 1945 (2 - as she was only number 120 in a series of some 20000 (2), she is likely to have been built quite early on in this time-frame)
Where built: USA (2)
Builder: Higgins Industries, possibly (2)
LBD: 7.92* x 2.13*m (1); 11.05 x 3.3 x 0.91 / 0.66m (2)
Propulsion: Twin-screw* (1); 225 HP Diesel, or 250 HP gasoline engine (2)
Speed: 12 knots (2)

Sources 4 and 2 show photographs of LCVPs in use, and a plan diagram of this type of vessel.

Date of loss qualifier: Actual date of loss

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCVP > Accessed 2010 (Digital archive). SDO13659.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 1521504 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Hinchcliffe, J and V, 1999, Dive Dorset: a diver guide (3rd Edition), 107, 108, 114 (Monograph). SWX1.

<1> Larn, R, and Larn, B, 1995, Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 1 : Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset Section 6, Dorset (AJ) Vol 1 (Monograph). SWX4541.

Record last edited

Mar 31 2024 7:19PM