LCT 7074 Landfall at Birkenhead: risk of being scrapped

[Alex van de Wetering]

I have been wanting to give Landing Craft Tank 7074 some attention on the forum, for a long time.

Although WW2 vehicles are more my cup of tea, landing craft and ships related to D-day have always had my interest. About two years ago I heard about the last Surviving British LCT mk3 that was at risk of being scrapped.

The craft in question is LCT7074, which landed at Gold beach and successfully delivered 9 of its 10 tanks. After making several re-supply runs in the weeks after D-day, the decision was made to convert the LCT into a repair ship. Before this conversion was completed the war ended. After the war the LCT survived as an exclusive club ship in Merseyside and renamed “clubship Landfall”.

At some stage the craft became part of the Historic Warships Birkenhead collection and found a spot in East Float awaiting restoration.

In early 2006 the Birkenhead museum was forced to close down, due to redevelopment of the area.

Although efforts are/were being made to save other ships from the Birkenhead collection, like U-boat U534, Falkland veteran HMS Plymouth and submarine HMS Onyx, there doesn’t seem to be too much interest to save the LCT. The Onyx seems to have been saved in the meantime, but the faiths of other items from the Birkenhead collection remain unknown.

Are there any MLU members that know more about the current situation in and around Birkenhead? Is the LCT still there?

As often is the case, any attempt of saving, moving and/or restoring these sort of objects could prove to be very expensive, but it would be a shame to see the LCT being scrapped.

Ideally it could form a nice base for a D-day related museum on the UK southcoast or in Normandy (maybe even in company of some of the LCA’s that seem to “survive” in the UK and were displayed on MLU before)



The LCT can clearly be recognized on Google Earth as the following pictures show, but you never know when those pictures were taken.


Alex

Other links on the subject:

http://evans-experientialism.freeweb...tocontents.htm

http://www.maritimebritain.co.uk/risklist.html


landfall.jpg

LCT Landfall-1.jpg LCT Landfall-2.jpg

LCT7074LandFall-1.jpg

[PPS]

There are two photos on:-

http://www.photoboxgallery.com/Marit...onNews/3208718

I cannot find a date to the photos though.

There is another mention of LCT 7074 here seems to be quite recent, within the past 3 months:-

http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/...p=1708931.html

LCT 7074 is stated as being part of the core collection here:-

http://nationalhistoricships.org.uk/...g%20Vessel

And here is an LST that will be closer to Canadian hearts, built at Esquimalt:-

http://nationalhistoricships.org.uk/...ssel/vref/1789

Paul.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

The LCT can clearly be recognized on Google Earth as the following pictures show, but you never know when those pictures were taken.

I took a look on both Google Maps and Yahoo Maps to see what could be found. There is little difference between the two of them, and they are almost identical to the pics that you posted Alex.

But looking on Multi map, there is a difference. She seem to have been moved alongside and slightly astern of what I take to be HMS Onyx (?)

Paul.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Paul,

I agree. It seems the Birkenhead collection has been moved closer to eachother, probably to enable the area around it to be developed.

Over the past few weeks I spent some time looking for landing craft survivors on the internet, LCA's, US LCT's, LST's and British LCT's. It seems that while I was conserned about LCT landfall, a few other "surviving" British LCT3's and 4's have been scrapped in my own country over the past few years.

Below are some examples, some barely modified, others hardly recognizable. I was surprised that some of them survived (and some still survive) in Holland, because we tend to "clean" our country, which saw several old army trucks disappear and even Sherman range targets being scrapped.



"De Kil" (LCT 3) scrapped only two or three months ago!!!!

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/1...sc000907po.jpg

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9...sc000807dj.jpg
Pictures: "Hans" www.kustvaartforum.nl



"Rio 2/ Trio2" (LCT 3) scrapped in 2000 after stranding.
http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/1235/rio46mt.jpg
Picture: www.kustvaartforum.nl



"Bogy" (2 LCT 3's welded together!) After an accident when loading, which killed the captain. The ship was scrapped in Belgium somewhere around 2002.
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/3...1541501ai6.jpg

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/7...1541502pz3.jpg
Pictures: "Piet Bieze" www.kustvaartforum.nl


"Jabo" seems to be stilll in business. I have only seen one picture, which makes it hard to determine, but I recon it is based on a LCT3.

Alex

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Over the past few weeks I spent some time looking for landing craft survivors on the internet, LCA's, US LCT's, LST's and British LCT's. It seems that while I was conserned about LCT landfall, a few other "surviving" British LCT3's and 4's have been scrapped in my own country over the past few years.

Alex, amazing info, never realised this.

Here's another to add to the Higgins survivor's list, it used to be located on a roundabout at Shoreham - see Whats The Last Thing You Expect To See On A Roundabout?

H.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Does anyone have any recent information regarding the fate of LCT 7074? Is it still there???? (Anyone interested in a trip across the channel, next June? )

It seems U-boat U-534 from the same Historic Warships collection has been adopted by Merseytravel. It has been cut in three sections and forms part of a new exhibition.

http://www.merseyferries.co.uk/u534/news.aspx

http://www.merseyferries.co.uk/image...u534-news1.jpg

Alex

[griffo220]

Hi Guys I'm new to MLU usually spend my idle time on G503 as I have a 1943 GPW but I saw this in my local rag & done a search & ended up here, so thought you may be interested.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...0252-25966368/

Best Regards

Dave

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Not much news to report, but here's an update:

“D-Day landing craft tank in 'much better condition' than expected following restoration works”: https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/po...-works-2504131

The LCT 7074 before restoration works:
image.jpg b25lY21zOmFhMjk2ZDZkLTEzMTQtNDE3ZS1hYWRiLTJjYzRiZWUxOTcxNzoyOTJkN2E2ZC1hMjk1LTRhMmYtYjYxOC1jMWRj.jpg

Artist impression of final resting place of The National Museum of the Royal Navy's LCT 7074 outside the D-Day Story Southsea:
b25lY21zOjlhZGY3Njk3LWQwNDItNDhiYi1iNjVmLWIyOTc0MDM0NmU1YjoyNDE5ZTYxZi02MzQ0LTRlMTctOGRiMy00MDg5.jpg

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Hanno.

I am checking the interwebs from time to time, but apart from the pictures and footage taken when the LCT had just been put indoors, I can't find any update pictures. Should be a good surprise though!

Alex

[Hanno Spoelstra]

She was scheduled to be finshed by D-Day +75 - well that didn't happen....

Note that she "will be restored to her original glory, becoming the ‘missing piece in the jigsaw’ for the newly-revamped D-Day Museum in Southsea", but also that "she is too large to move by car and sea to the museum, she will be taken apart into smaller pieces, driven to the seafront and then reassembled."

It should become a sight to be seen, with a Sherman and a Churchill tank on its deck.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Almost there:

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/de...borted-2950322

[Hanno Spoelstra]

She has arrived!

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/de...museum-2950655

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-53860453

AAADC4D4-A592-4A54-923E-3AEFFBBEDD27.jpeg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Awesome! It looks like a really nice job.....they even fitted (dummy?) 20mm guns.
Great to see LCT 7074 finally restored and on display for everyone to see.

Indeed, I has turned out really smart. As it seemed the project slowly withered away, I am pleasantly surprised with the result.

Originally Posted by Stephen Fisher

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.

I've read the intention to place a Sherman and a Churchill tank on its deck.

Yesterday Matt Dixon sent a photo of the recently restored Grizzly tank of the museum. Robert George Glennie wrote "It’s the markings for Major Dennis Wells OP that was lost at Villers-Bocage, a tank that travelled over on LCT7074, in a perfect world it would be a Sherman V, but I guess you have to go with what you have sometimes."

118485045_3159780720801417_3886596137301759780_n.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

"A Churchill Crocodile tank is craned onto the restored World War Two landing craft LCT 7074 outside The D-Day Story in Southsea, Hampshire. PA Photo. Picture date: Thursday August 27, 2020. Andrew Matthews/PA Wire"

57ADA796-5FE6-45A6-92FB-AAE6751BFDE1.jpeg

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/de...uthsea-2955138