This fascinating and very detailed World War 2 U.S. Navy training film tells you everything you need know about LCI (L) infantry landing craft, inside & out, from conning tower to engine room, as well as tactics for air defense and specific formations & deployment for beach landings. Over 900 of these workhorse infantry landing craft were produced from 1943 to 1945, initially for the U.S. and Royal Navies, and later distributed to many Allies. LCILs could carry up to 220 soldiers, with stacked bunk beds for long voyages & their basic equipment. (Larger & slower LSTs were used for landing Tanks and heavy equipment.) Typically these ships delivered their cargos soon after beaches were secured using lighter landing craft like Higgins Boats for the first attack, although in some cases, they were part of the initial assault.
4 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon (one forward, one amidships, two aft) provided air defense, as well as direct fire on the beach. LCILs were ubiquitous in virtually all medium to large scale amphibious assaults from Sicily through DDay in Normandy and the Island Hopping campaigns in the Pacific. Their relatively high top speed of 18 knots, 500 nmi range combined with a shallow draft and rapidly deployed landing ramps meant they could move in, deliver their troops & equipment and move out in a very short time.
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