0:00:02 > 0:00:08Britain is an island surrounded by a cold and unforgiving sea.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11For centuries it protected us from attack.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14But to prosper and thrive, we would need to do more
0:00:14 > 0:00:17than just hide behind her saltwater shield.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22Britain needed brave men, willing to venture out into the unknown
0:00:22 > 0:00:24and she needed good boats to take them there.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29I've spent my life at sea.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34Now I'm going to take passage on six boats that together tell the story of modern Britain.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39Built for exploration, war, fishing,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42industry and our very survival -
0:00:42 > 0:00:44these are the boats that built Britain
0:00:44 > 0:00:47and changed the way we live for ever.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54And this time I'm going to be aboard an LCVP landing craft,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57the vessel that spearheaded the D-Day invasion
0:00:57 > 0:01:00and played a vital part in the final victory of Britain and the Allies
0:01:00 > 0:01:02in the Second World War.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26This is an LCVP - a Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28It was built to do a specific job -
0:01:28 > 0:01:33to land troops on a hostile beach in the teeth of enemy fire.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35Lord knows, she ain't pretty.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38And those sharp corners make a seaman's heart bleed.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40But she was the right boat at the right time.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45In our hour of greatest need, this boat saved Britain!
0:01:45 > 0:01:48And there are not many boats can claim that.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Developed from a Louisiana swamp boat,
0:01:53 > 0:01:58the LCVP is one of the strangest craft ever to take to the water.
0:01:59 > 0:02:0536 feet long and powered by a 250hp Detroit diesel,
0:02:05 > 0:02:10she's capable of carrying a platoon of men and all their kit ashore
0:02:10 > 0:02:11at 12 knots flat out.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22By the end of World War Two,
0:02:22 > 0:02:26over 20,000 of these extraordinary little craft had been built,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29using production methods that revolutionised boat building.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Designing a boat like this called for radical thinking,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38but cometh the hour, cometh the man,
0:02:38 > 0:02:39and Andrew Higgins,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43a hard-drinking, straight-talking American shipbuilder,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47proved that this boat was the answer the Allies had been looking for.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54But just how did this design come about?
0:02:54 > 0:02:58And what was it about Higgins that made its creation possible?
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Because make no mistake, this is an extraordinary boat
0:03:03 > 0:03:07that goes against almost every rule of design.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Doing what no boat really wants to do,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14leave the water and drive straight up the beach!
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Ask any sailor where he does not want to be
0:03:24 > 0:03:28and he will tell you on the beach, where the sea meets the land.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30That's where the real danger is.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35But at the end of World War Two, that's precisely where he had to be,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39getting thousands and thousands of troops ashore
0:03:39 > 0:03:42right here on this very beach.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48So, how do you go about designing a boat that can sail for hours across the English Channel
0:03:48 > 0:03:51and then deliver a platoon of almost 40 soldiers
0:03:51 > 0:03:54straight into the teeth of enemy fire?
0:03:54 > 0:03:56It's a huge challenge,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and one the Allies could ill afford to get wrong.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10Nowadays we're so used to the idea of amphibious landings
0:04:10 > 0:04:14that we take it for granted that military craft can motor up a beach
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and deliver troops at full speed.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23But between the wars, when military chiefs first considered the problem,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25they faced a serious hurdle.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Traditional boats just couldn't handle the job.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32They were great at sea,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36but when the time came to step off and fight your way ashore,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40the high sides and V-shaped hulls of conventional craft
0:04:40 > 0:04:43meant that the men ran into all sorts of difficulties.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Back in the early days of World War Two,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54we took a serious drubbing.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59We managed to get the British expeditionary force off the beaches at Dunkirk with a ragtag Navy
0:04:59 > 0:05:03of little boats begged borrowed and stolen from goodness knows where.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06But if we were going to win the war a few years later,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08we had to get back onto those French beaches
0:05:08 > 0:05:10and this time it was a different story.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17Now the Germans would be waiting.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Dug in, their machine guns zeroed, their mines laid,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25just looking for the chance to shoot up anything that came their way.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27It was a daunting prospect.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30But one that needed addressing and fast,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34if launching the huge D-Day invasion was to be successful.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43The problem facing shipbuilders goes to the very heart of boat design.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Most ships tended to have deep V shaped entries,
0:05:47 > 0:05:52great for keeping you upright in the water and cutting through the waves,
0:05:52 > 0:05:53but a disaster when running aground.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59What was needed was a whole new type of boat.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09I've come here to meet an old ship mate, Ian McGilvery.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11Ian is every inch a sailor man,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13but the difference between him and me,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15is that he is also an expert boat builder.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Hello, mate.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20And to help illustrate the problem,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Ian's going to build a couple of very basic models
0:06:23 > 0:06:25that will show us the two extremes of hull design.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29- Good bow, that, eh, Tom?- Beautiful.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32The first is a flat bottomed boat,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34a box really.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38And the second, its more usual V-shaped opposite number.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Each offers advantages and disadvantages
0:06:41 > 0:06:43compared with the other.
0:06:43 > 0:06:44OK.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47But to understand fully what these are,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49we'll have to float these boats in the water,
0:06:49 > 0:06:54starting with the traditional V-shaped hull.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57- Do you want to give it a go? - OK, here we go.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01- Oh, look at that! Useless! - Well, that's no good then, is it?
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Its no good for a landing craft, or anything else.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Put some ballast in it.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07A few old nuts...
0:07:07 > 0:07:11But once we add a bit of ballast, as you'd get in a boat of this type,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13things improve dramatically.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18The boat settles in the water, suddenly she's remarkably stable.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25And with all that boat in the water she'll also handle well -
0:07:25 > 0:07:28her draught will stop her being blown off course
0:07:28 > 0:07:33and the V-shaped hull will chop readily through the waves.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35If it's a landing craft, it's got everything you want
0:07:35 > 0:07:39except for the fact when you put it on the beach,
0:07:39 > 0:07:40it falls over.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42- No good.- No good at all, is it?
0:07:42 > 0:07:44Let's have a look at this one.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50We'll start with it on land, which is what it's for!
0:07:50 > 0:07:51Can't beat it, can you?
0:07:51 > 0:07:53No, not at all.
0:07:53 > 0:07:54If we put it on the water,
0:07:54 > 0:07:59it's pretty good on the water as well on the face of things.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02What happens if we put some weight on the side,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04its absolutely amazingly stable.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07You put a lot of weight on and it stays stable
0:08:07 > 0:08:12and it's got to go a long way, a long, long way before it tips over.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16In fact, even then it comes right the way up.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18So it's not got a stability problem.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Just as an idea, load carrying ability, that's a lot of nuts there.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Lot of weight. Look at that.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26That's huge! It's doing that,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28because its got so much displacement, isn't it?
0:08:28 > 0:08:30So far, so good.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34But you really wouldn't want to take this design to sea.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38The problem it has got, I think, is that if there's a sea running...
0:08:40 > 0:08:43..It's going to pound something awful...
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Come up over a wave, the bottom is just going to bang.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49It will be an awful thing to steer because there's no keel,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51- there's nothing to stop it going sideways.- No.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54I mean, that's the shape a landing craft has to be,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57cos starting from the land there's no choice.
0:08:57 > 0:08:58But its not going to work like that.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01It's got to be more sophisticated than that.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03The flat-bottomed boat has a lot going for it,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05but Ian and I suspect
0:09:05 > 0:09:09there are going to be some serious disadvantages out on the water.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12To find out what these may be, we're going to have to test
0:09:12 > 0:09:15our tiny wooden model on a human scale.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17LAUGHTER
0:09:17 > 0:09:21However, I wasn't quite expecting this.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26I've sailed on hundreds of boats over the years,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30but this is the first time I've ever set sail in a skip.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32But Ian thinks she'll float.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35So here goes.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38It'll be very interesting to see what happens now.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41I've got my life jacket on so I'm ready for anything.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Lot of ballast in the bow here and we're starting to float.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47And how are we floating?
0:09:47 > 0:09:49She's feeling my weight,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52but she's pretty good fore and aft actually.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53Just about right
0:09:53 > 0:09:56and she's blowing about like a crisp packet as predicted.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58Oh!
0:09:58 > 0:10:00- LAUGHTER - What do you think?
0:10:00 > 0:10:04I was hoping it wasn't going to start so we wouldn't have to go, but never mind.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07It feels more or less OK so far.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09But how's she going to handle under power?
0:10:09 > 0:10:11- We'll give it some more..- Ohhh!
0:10:11 > 0:10:13We've got to be careful we don't duck the stone under.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15We've got this fore and aft trimish.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17But if I go here and you put some power on,
0:10:17 > 0:10:19will she squat and work?
0:10:19 > 0:10:21There she goes. That's it.
0:10:21 > 0:10:22So we're off.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Well, the good news is the skip floats.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36The bad news is it handles like a dog!
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Back in World War Two those guys really had their work cut out.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46The first problem is direction. There's nothing gripping the water.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49We're just about getting away with it here on the river,
0:10:49 > 0:10:50but thrown in a few waves
0:10:50 > 0:10:53and our square metal box will be all over the place.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58But there's another problem - even worse.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00It's called cavitation.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Every time we try to open up the engine we lose power,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07because the flat bottom lifts
0:11:07 > 0:11:10and channels air, not water, down onto the propeller.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15On a V-shaped boat the propellers would be deep down in the water
0:11:15 > 0:11:17and you wouldn't get this problem.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19But you can't have them there on a landing craft,
0:11:19 > 0:11:21they'll snag on the beach.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25It's a catch 22 and it's one the boat designers
0:11:25 > 0:11:28of World War Two were going to have to solve fast,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32to have any chance of coming up with a successful landing craft.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Somehow those guys had to find a way of feeding water onto that propeller
0:11:36 > 0:11:39without putting the propeller so low down
0:11:39 > 0:11:41that it was going to graunch itself onto the beach
0:11:41 > 0:11:43as they were driving in.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49It's clear to me now that what they needed
0:11:49 > 0:11:53was to combine the best of the stability and load-carrying box design
0:11:53 > 0:11:56with the sea-keeping qualities of the V-shaped hull.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59MUSIC: THEME FROM THE GREAT ESCAPE
0:12:17 > 0:12:21By 1939, Britain's designers had already been developing a boat
0:12:21 > 0:12:24called the LCA that combined these features.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29It did the job, but it had some serious drawbacks.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34With only 130hp under the bonnet, it wasn't notably fast or powerful.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37And with a narrow door at the front
0:12:37 > 0:12:40she could only carry men, not machines.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44And with our shipyards under constant German aerial attack,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Britain would never be able to build enough of them
0:12:47 > 0:12:49to equip a massive invasion force either.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Luckily our biggest ally, America, faced no such problems
0:12:55 > 0:13:00when it came to building their own design of landing craft - the LCVP.
0:13:02 > 0:13:03Jerry Stratham has written
0:13:03 > 0:13:06the definitive history of the American landing craft
0:13:06 > 0:13:10and its maverick designer, Andrew Jackson Higgins.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Higgins was not your normal industrialist.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15He was hot tempered,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17he was brilliant.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21He had the ability to take wild ideas and turn them into reality.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24He worked hard, he drank hard, he swore hard,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28he grew up on the docks in the timber industry.
0:13:28 > 0:13:29So he was like the kind of guys
0:13:29 > 0:13:32that he had working for him in the shipyard.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34But he was also educated and articulate enough
0:13:34 > 0:13:36so he could go to Washington
0:13:36 > 0:13:38and have conversations with President Roosevelt
0:13:38 > 0:13:40or with generals and admirals.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Higgins was the right man for the job,
0:13:43 > 0:13:45but he also happened to have the right boat,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48which he'd designed himself to haul timber
0:13:48 > 0:13:51in the shallow swamps around New Orleans.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53In order to get the timber out,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Higgins built a boat he called the Eureka,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57which was a shallow draft boat.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00This was one of the original Higgins Eureka work boats.
0:14:00 > 0:14:01And it could go over sand bars,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04it could pull up on the side of a bayou,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07it could pull in, turn around, pull back out again over the sandbars
0:14:07 > 0:14:08and leave the same position.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11The same qualities that later would be needed in a landing craft.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17As its name suggests, the Eureka boat was a huge breakthrough.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20By shaping a shallow, but immensely strong keel
0:14:20 > 0:14:21to the boat's flat bottom,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23the Eureka managed to combine
0:14:23 > 0:14:26the seakeeping qualities of a traditional boat,
0:14:26 > 0:14:31while still being able to take the ground like a flat-bottomed craft.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35And by placing the boat's propeller into a tube inside the keel,
0:14:35 > 0:14:40Higgins also managed to crack the tricky problem of cavitation.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44The Eureka could operate at full power in only a few inches of water.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Higgins knew his design was the answer.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51There was only one issue -
0:14:51 > 0:14:56the age-old problem of getting the men off the boat and onto the beach.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00Undeterred, Higgins set about redesigning his whole structure
0:15:00 > 0:15:03to turn the entire bow section into a ramp.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07Now the boat could unload its troops in seconds
0:15:07 > 0:15:09and carry jeeps and guns too.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13With this problem solved, the LCVP was born
0:15:13 > 0:15:16and the orders started flooding in.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21All Higgins had to do was work out how to build the LCVPs fast enough.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Up till now boat building had always been done one vessel at a time.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30But Higgins had a better idea.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32Taking his cue from Henry Ford,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36he decided to build on four construction lines.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40This meant his factory could turn out over 100 boats a week!
0:15:43 > 0:15:48Higgins went from 50 employees in 1937 to 20,000 by 1943.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51He was the design and production genius.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54War, you didn't worry about the cost and he didn't,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56he was worrying about the product.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58He wanted to make sure that the soldiers hitting the beaches
0:15:58 > 0:16:02had the best available boat that they could possibly have.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04This is from the inside of one of his plants
0:16:04 > 0:16:06showing the landing craft being produced.
0:16:06 > 0:16:07I don't believe this!
0:16:07 > 0:16:09This is four across.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11It's called a bay, a production bay.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14And they would move on a moveable assembly line.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16It's like a car.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19- Like a little tiny motor car. - Absolutely.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22And once they got to the end of the bay, at the end of the plant,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24they would be loaded on railroad cars and taken away.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28- He was mass producing them just like you'd produce an automobile.- Wow!
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Actually I rather like this picture because you can see
0:16:31 > 0:16:33exactly the shape of the hull here and how it is working.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36You can see it's almost a three-point landing, isn't it?
0:16:36 > 0:16:39And you can see how each individual has a specific task
0:16:39 > 0:16:41that they have to do as the boat moves along.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Higgins also covered the factory with slogans
0:16:46 > 0:16:48to encourage the workers.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51The message - "The guy who relaxes is helping the Axis"
0:16:51 > 0:16:54hanging in the main production hall.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59With the boss's production genius and forceful personality,
0:16:59 > 0:17:04Higgins Industries turned out over 20,000 LCVPs.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07But today there are less than five still functioning
0:17:07 > 0:17:09and only one in the UK.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16She's here, 100 miles from the sea in Nottingham.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21Boat builder Nick Gates is one of the few men
0:17:21 > 0:17:25who actually knows how to handle an original LCVP
0:17:25 > 0:17:28and I'm keen to hear his thoughts on this strangest of craft.
0:17:31 > 0:17:32Well, here it is.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Yep, here it is, an LCVP.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Yeah, it's a funny thing, you know.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43I know it does the job, but it just, it does offend my eye as a seamen.
0:17:43 > 0:17:44Well, you're right. It's not pretty.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47It's not pretty, but it's a fantastic piece of kit.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52My first impressions are of the box-like nature of the craft.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54But that was how it had to be.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58It was designed to carry 36 troops or small fighting vehicles
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and for the D-Day landings these boats were packed to the gills.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07It still looks very square in the water, just like the skip we tested,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11but Nick assures me there's a lot more subtlety to the design.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14Although you think it's just a basic box,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17a basic box is actually a very hard shape to keep strong.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21If you imagine an empty shoe box, you take the lid off, it's quite floppy.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23If you cut the end out, it's even worse.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24So this is actually very clever.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27There's a lot of reinforcing in the corners,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29on the deck and below the hull.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32It's actually a very hard shape to keep stiff.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33It does look like an ugly box,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37- but actually it's a very, very fine piece of marine design.- Yeah.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Nick's clearly a fan.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45But what about the men who actually had to drive these boats back on D-Day?
0:18:45 > 0:18:50Roy Nelson was 19 when he skippered an LCVP during the Normandy landings
0:18:50 > 0:18:54and I've invited him back to drive this LCVP today.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58This must bring back some memories for you, Roy?
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Oh, you can say that again. It's...
0:19:04 > 0:19:06I've got mixed emotions.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10- I'm excited, apprehensive...- Yeah.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13And of course - nostalgia.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16How long's it been since you were on one of these boats?
0:19:16 > 0:19:22I've not actually been on one of these LCVPs for 65 years.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25The end of 1944.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27So it's a long time.
0:19:27 > 0:19:33- And I think of the chaps who aren't around any more.- Yeah.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41On June 6th 1944,
0:19:41 > 0:19:46175,000 troops set out across the Channel to recapture Europe,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49with 1,500 of Higgins' boats in the front line.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Obviously, we knew we were training to land on some beaches somewhere.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Presumably France.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02But we didn't know where.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05We didn't know up until nearly the time.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12When we finally did set sail,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16it was amazing.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19I'd never seen anything like it before or since.
0:20:19 > 0:20:25The vast armada of all types of shipping.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27All shapes and sizes.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29All going across the Channel.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Ships as far as the eye could see.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40- You'd think, "Well, this is big. This is it".- My word!
0:20:40 > 0:20:41You are finally...
0:20:41 > 0:20:44When you're actually on the way, you realise this is it.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53- It was a mixture of excitement and apprehension.- Of course.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56"What's going to happen?" etc.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00But generally, it was accepted.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02You knew you were trained for a job
0:21:02 > 0:21:05and this was the job and you were going to do it.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Now, after all those years of development,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20the LCVP was facing the ultimate test of its ability.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34And today we're going to discover for ourselves
0:21:34 > 0:21:37how this boat really handles.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47As soon as we pull away
0:21:47 > 0:21:50and the throaty Detroit two-stroke diesel starts to roar,
0:21:50 > 0:21:54all of my preconceptions about this vessel are blown away.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59She's got effortless power from her 250hp engine
0:21:59 > 0:22:02and in a unique way, she's graceful too.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06A testimony to Mr Higgins and his revolutionary hull.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11And so simple to drive with a steering wheel
0:22:11 > 0:22:13that can be operated with one hand
0:22:13 > 0:22:17while you control the gearshift and throttle with the other.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19The driver can perform complex manoeuvres
0:22:19 > 0:22:22with speed and confidence.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31This boat really is a truly wonderful vessel.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47There is so much racket from that diesel back there
0:22:47 > 0:22:49that I've had to come forward to talk.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51But the amazing thing about this boat
0:22:51 > 0:22:53is that she really does manoeuvre
0:22:53 > 0:22:55and I'm astonished at the acceleration.
0:22:55 > 0:22:56There's a lot of power there.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01You could take a lot of men in here, vehicles, push them up the beach.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05I can see how it's going to happen now and what really does impress me,
0:23:05 > 0:23:09is the way Nick was able to spin the boat round, in the river.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Higgins had taken his Eureka boat
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and transformed it into a perfect amphibious landing craft.
0:23:28 > 0:23:29From humble beginnings,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32the Allies now had a boat they could absolutely trust
0:23:32 > 0:23:35to do the job it was specifically designed to do.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Now I'm keen to see for myself
0:23:41 > 0:23:44just how this boat delivers in the ultimate test.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Leaving the safety of deep water and running up the shore.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Well, the boat's impeccable.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03A masterpiece of design.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06But this isn't the sort of shore she was built to come up.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09She was designed for sterner stuff,
0:24:09 > 0:24:15the beaches of Normandy under heavy fire, driven by men like Roy.
0:24:16 > 0:24:2165 years on, Roy is clearly enjoying being back on an LCVP.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23But on the eve of D-Day,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26the emotions he and the other soldiers were feeling
0:24:26 > 0:24:28would have been very different.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Now the landing craft were on their way.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39The weather forecast for the day was good, a force three westerly,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42but of course as so often happens
0:24:42 > 0:24:44that wasn't what was served up.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Instead, it blew a lot harder
0:24:47 > 0:24:49and as the LCVPs came into shore
0:24:49 > 0:24:54they had 5ft slammers coming in right under their bows.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Horrible conditions that would test any boat,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00let alone one charged with putting men ashore
0:25:00 > 0:25:02onto a beach under a hail of lead.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Right here on this beach
0:25:14 > 0:25:17is where the Allies were finally going to find out the truth
0:25:17 > 0:25:19about the Higgins landing craft.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21Was it going to work under fire?
0:25:23 > 0:25:26The official record of that day states -
0:25:26 > 0:25:29"Within ten minutes of the ramps being lowered,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33"the leading companies had become almost incapable of action".
0:25:33 > 0:25:36"Every officer and sergeant killed or wounded".
0:25:40 > 0:25:43But in the face of such desperate adversity,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47the LCVPs kept on pushing up the beaches
0:25:47 > 0:25:50and gradually the men they brought ashore
0:25:50 > 0:25:52overcame the German positions.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Looking out at this peaceful beach today,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09it's hard to imagine thousands upon thousands
0:26:09 > 0:26:12of these brave little landing craft
0:26:12 > 0:26:16coming in from England over the horizon in the morning,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18loaded up with what to the defenders
0:26:18 > 0:26:21must have looked like a whole population of soldiers on board.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25The boats did their job, my word they did.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28And now it was up to the guys.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Almost 5,000 British, American and Canadian troops
0:26:38 > 0:26:40lost their lives that day.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44And the cemeteries of Normandy still bear witness
0:26:44 > 0:26:48to the sacrifice they made on the windswept beaches below.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53No war is without its losses.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57But these brave men and the LCVPs that carried them
0:26:57 > 0:27:00had launched the attack that would ultimately bring about
0:27:00 > 0:27:03the defeat of Germany and the liberation of Europe.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14And today, the LCVP is still going strong.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18It's faster and better equipped with a 21st century design,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21but it's still recognisably based on the boat
0:27:21 > 0:27:24produced by Andrew Higgins all those years ago.
0:27:25 > 0:27:31In fact, the LCVP is such an essential part of Britain's modern armed forces
0:27:31 > 0:27:33that huge ships are now built
0:27:33 > 0:27:35to launch them from anywhere in the world.
0:27:37 > 0:27:38This is HMS Bulwark,
0:27:38 > 0:27:43one of the Royal Navy's biggest and best equipped ships.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48She's almost 600ft long and displaces over 20,000 tonnes.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52But the real reason for her existence
0:27:52 > 0:27:54is hidden deep inside her hull.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59A huge dry dock that can be flooded at the touch of a button,
0:27:59 > 0:28:04ready to launch an armada of LCVPs towards the shore.
0:28:12 > 0:28:1465 years old and still going strong,
0:28:14 > 0:28:18the basic LCVP design has never been bettered.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23A boat perfectly designed for the job in hand.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27A little ship that saved Britain in our hour of greatest need.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31And you can't ask more of a boat than that!
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:52 > 0:28:57E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk