Completed Armada

The Navy last week admitted that it had a brand-new type of ship which has been added to fill out its invasion repertory. The LSM (Landing Ship, Medium) is expected to fill the last gap in the range of vessels needed for amphibious jobs.

Details on the LSM's use and operation were carefully withheld, its construction only sketchily described: it is over 200 ft. long, somewhere between big and small tank-landing vessels (LST and LCT)

From the Navy's landing-vessel program has come a motley lot of odd, ugly but effective craft for beach assault. The LSM is the last of eleven basic designs (15 types). The rest of the roster:

P: LSD (Landing Ship, Dock), a 450-ft. floating dock for use after assault (the first picture of the completed ship was released last week);

P: LST (Landing Ship, Tank), a 328-ft., ocean-going ship with a tank ramp in the bow;

P: LCI (Landing Craft, Infantry) 157 ft. long, 200-troop capacity, with multiple ramps for fast debarkation;

P: LCT (Landing Craft, Tank), 100 ft. long, transportable, for tanks, trucks, or troops;

P: LCM (Landing Craft, Medium), in 50-and 56-ft. lengths, for a bulldozer or medium tank;

P: LCP (Landing Craft, Personnel), 36 ft. long, with or without ramp, for 30 to 36 assault troops;

P: LCV (Landing Craft, Vehicle) like LCP, with exclusive landing facilities for vehicles, or for vehicles and troops;

P: LCS (Landing Craft, Support) 36 1/2 ft. long, armed and armored, for fire support in landing areas;

P: LVT (Landing Vehicle, Tracked), amphibious "Water Buffalo," 21 ft. long, 20-troop capacity, for storming swamps, coral reefs, otherwise inaccessible places;

P: LCR (Landing Craft, Rubber), in 12-and 16-ft. sizes, to land patrols of seven to ten men.

With officers and men waiting, the Navy is now concentrating on production of these vessels with a high-powered incentive program of talks, movies, demonstrations in factories and shipyards. The $5 billion landing-vessel budget calls for a vast armada of more than 80,000 by year's end.

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