Trial run on Lake Michigan

Date

• 1943

Summary

• This is one of a series of photographs documenting practice tank landings on the Lake Michigan shoreline at Point Beach, north of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, during the summer of 1943. This picture shows three tanks coming off from LCT(6) 501, an advance design invasion barge built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin as the prototype for 1,300 other LTC(6) barges that were constructed at twelve manufacturing plants throughout the Midwest. Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company had previously built 36 LCT(5) barges in 1942 on a berth not in use for submarine construction, which was the firm's main focus. In 1943 the company served as the lead yard to oversee production of the LTC(6) based on the prototype #501. Hulls of the LTC(6) were built in three interchangeable sections so that a section built at one plant could be joined to a section built at another site. Both types of barges practiced landings along the shore in the Manitowoc and Two Rivers area, largely in secret due to censorship and security restrictions. LCT(6) 501 was delivered to the Navy August 12, 1943 and participtaed in the D-Day landings at Normandy in June 1944, specifically at Gold Beach. A penciled note on the back of this photograph states "Trial run on Lake Michigan near Point Beach Two Rivers. 36 landing craft were built at Manitowoc." "LCT" stands for "Landing Craft Tank."