LCT 7074 Landfall at Birkenhead: risk of being scrapped

[Alex van de Wetering]

Some picture from the salvage operation of LCT 7074

source:

http://www.uk.arteliagroup.com/lct-7074-re-floated/
http://www.uk.arteliagroup.com/lct70...loat-part-two/

Awesome to see the LCT saved and on it's way to the D-day museum in Portsmouth!

Alex

[David Dunlop]

What would a typical load have consisted of for her at the Normandy Beaches on D-Day?


David

[Alex van de Wetering]

David,

I understand LCT 7074 carried 10 Shermans during D-day, and landed on Gold Beach.

She joined the 17th LCT Flotilla at Great Yarmouth then steamed onwards to Felixstowe to prepare for the build up to D-Day. The backbone of the invasion fleet LCT’s, which could carry up to eleven Sherman tanks, were manned mainly by British crews and transported almost all the tanks, heavy artillery and armoured vehicles landed in Normandy. The 17th LCT Flotilla was part of Assault Group L2, LCT Squadron “H” of the Eastern Task Force, which supported the British landings (made up of two British divisions, one Canadian division plus two Army and one Royal Marine Commando unit), and LANDFALL carried troops and ten Shermans to Normandy, successfully landing nine of the tanks on Gold beach. For several months after the invasion, the vessel was consistently engaged in ferrying troops, supplies, vehicles and ammunition to ports across the Channel in support of the Allied Forces advancing across northern Europe, continuing in this role throughout the summer and well into the autumn of 1944.

source: http://www.nationalhistoricships.org...r/713/landfall

Some excellent info on specific laoding tables was posted in these threads:

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2205
http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9387

[David Dunlop]

Thanks, Alex.

David

[Stephen Fisher]

Hi everyone,

I appreciate this thread is quite old, but I thought in case anyone is watching you might like to know the latest updates on LCT 7074. Last week, she received the final piece of funding necessary to complete her restoration and display her outside The D-Day Story museum in Portsmouth. You can read more about it here: https://www.nmrn.org.uk/news-events/...g-craft-secure

I've been doing some voluntary research for the National Museum of the Royal Navy into 7074's history and uncovered a few interesting details of her career, and the units she took to Normandy. She actually carried one Cromwell tank of 22 Armoured Brigade's HQ, two Sherman tanks of the 5th Royal Horse Artillery and seven Stuart tanks of the 5 Royal Tank Regiment's recce troop. One of these was drowned during disembarkation on Gold Beach, although the crew survived.

Whilst I've found a few pictures of her on Gold Beach, I've never seen the photo of her in Alex van de Wetering's first post. Does anyone here know its origin or how I might be able to obtain a better copy?

More updates soon I hope,
Steve

[Alex van de Wetering]

Stephan,

Thanks for the update! Most threads on MLU have quite a history, but there are always people watching....and a reply always brings the thread back to the top!

I think I got the picture from the Evans-experimantialism website at the time. It seems the website has been "disabled", but some of it can still be found on the Wayback machine.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120501...om/lct7074.htm

Alex

[Stephen Fisher]

Hi Alex,
Thanks for that info. It appears that George Evans ran that site. He was the former owner of 7074 but has, I understand, since passed away. I'll keep looking for more information and update you all as and when more details come to light.
Cheers,
Steve