The Higgins Boat: Louisiana’s Contribution to Victory in World War II

Written by: Nick Monroe, Guest Writer

From the boatyards of New Orleans to the beaches of Normandy and the islands of the Pacific, one of Louisiana’s most important contributions to World War II came in the form of a relatively small wooden landing craft. Known as the Higgins boat, the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel, or LCVP, became an essential part of Allied amphibious warfare. Developed from designs associated with Louisiana businessman and boatbuilder Andrew Jackson Higgins, the vessel demonstrated how experience navigating the shallow and difficult waters of Louisiana could ultimately influence military operations around the world.

Andrew Higgins did not begin his career intending to build invasion craft. His early business interests involved boats designed to operate in the shallow waters, marshes, swamps, and bayous common throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. Conventional boats were not always practical in these environments, especially when they needed to approach undeveloped shorelines or move through areas with submerged obstacles. Higgins and his company worked on shallow-draft designs capable of handling these difficult conditions.

One of the important predecessors of the famous Higgins boat was the Eureka boat. Its shallow draft and ability to operate close to shore attracted military interest as the United States searched for better landing craft. Military planners faced a serious challenge: soldiers aboard large ships had to be transported from offshore vessels onto beaches that might have no docks, ports, or other facilities. During combat, those beaches could also be defended by enemy forces.

The design continued to evolve. One of its most important features became the large ramp at the bow. Earlier landing craft could require troops to climb over the sides before reaching shore. With a bow ramp, soldiers could instead move directly out of the front of the boat after landing. Equipment, supplies, and certain vehicles could also be unloaded through the opening. Once its passengers and cargo were ashore, the craft could withdraw and return for another load.

The result was the LCVP, a vessel approximately 36 feet long that could carry roughly three dozen troops or transport cargo and equipment depending on the mission. It was not designed to be elegant or comfortable. Its purpose was practical: move soldiers and supplies from ship to shore as rapidly as possible. Its shallow draft allowed it to approach beaches where larger vessels could not go.

Producing these boats transformed New Orleans into an important center of American wartime manufacturing. Higgins Industries expanded dramatically as the United States mobilized for World War II. Thousands of workers participated in the production of landing craft and other military vessels. Welders, carpenters, mechanics, engineers, electricians, office workers, and many others became part of a massive industrial operation.

The workforce itself became an important part of the Higgins story. Men and women worked for the company, and Higgins Industries employed Black and white workers during an era when segregation remained firmly established across Louisiana and much of the American South. Although the realities of race, employment, and equality during the period were complicated, the Higgins factories nevertheless represented an unusual wartime workplace in New Orleans and demonstrated how dramatically the demands of the war were changing American industry.

The Higgins boat would eventually become closely associated with one of the most famous military operations in history: the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. During D-Day, an enormous Allied force crossed the English Channel to begin the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation. American, British, Canadian, and other Allied troops headed toward five invasion beaches—Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.

Higgins boats were among the landing craft carrying troops toward the Normandy shoreline. For the soldiers inside them, the journey from transport ship to beach represented the final stage before entering combat. When the craft reached shallow water, the bow ramp dropped and soldiers moved forward onto the beaches.

The importance of Higgins landing craft, however, extended far beyond Normandy. Higgins-designed vessels supported amphibious operations in several theaters of World War II, including campaigns in North Africa, Europe, and across the Pacific. Island warfare made amphibious transportation especially important. Troops, weapons, vehicles, ammunition, food, medical supplies, and other equipment often had to be moved from ships directly onto undeveloped beaches.

The story of the Higgins boat therefore belongs not only to Andrew Higgins and military commanders but also to the thousands of people who built the vessels. Every landing craft required workers to shape materials, operate machinery, install engines, assemble components, inspect equipment, and prepare the finished boats for military service. Many of those workers would never visit the distant battlefields where the vessels they constructed were used, yet their labor connected New Orleans directly to the global war.

The importance placed on Higgins's contribution was famously demonstrated by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe. Historian Stephen E. Ambrose later recorded Eisenhower referring to Higgins as “the man who won the war for us,” reflecting Eisenhower's belief in the importance of Higgins's landing craft to Allied strategy. The statement was an expression of praise rather than a literal claim that one individual was responsible for Allied victory. World War II required the combined efforts of millions of military personnel, industrial workers, scientists, civilians, and Allied nations. Nevertheless, Eisenhower's words reveal how highly Higgins's contribution was regarded.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Higgins boat is the connection between Louisiana's geography and its eventual military importance. The shallow bayous, marshes, lakes, and coastal waters of Louisiana created practical challenges for boatbuilders. Higgins's efforts to overcome those challenges contributed to designs that could approach difficult shorelines. A concept shaped partly by Louisiana's environment eventually became valuable on beaches thousands of miles away.

The Higgins boat was small compared with the enormous battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, and transports that dominated the seas during World War II. It carried no reputation comparable to the great warships of the period. Yet those massive vessels could not perform one deceptively simple task: drive directly onto a beach and deliver soldiers to land.

That was the job of the Higgins boat.

Its legacy is therefore larger than the vessel itself. It represents Louisiana ingenuity, American industrial mobilization, the work of thousands of New Orleans residents, and the enormous logistical effort required to fight a global war. From Louisiana's waterways to Normandy and the Pacific, the Higgins boat demonstrated how an innovation developed to solve practical problems at home could eventually have consequences around the world.

Today, the Higgins boat remains an important chapter in both Louisiana and American history. Its story reminds us that history is not shaped only by presidents, generals, and great battles. Sometimes it begins in workshops and boatyards, with people trying to build something that works a little better than what came before. In the case of the Higgins boat, an idea rooted in the waterways of Louisiana ultimately helped carry thousands of soldiers across the final stretch of water separating them from some of the most consequential battlefields of World War II.

Ambrose, Stephen E. D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. Simon & Schuster, 1994.

Ambrose, Stephen E. Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944–May 7, 1945. Simon & Schuster, 1997.

National Park Service. “Andrew Jackson Higgins.” Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, U.S. Department of the Interior.

The National WWII Museum. “The Higgins Boat.” The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana.

The National WWII Museum. “Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War II.” The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Whitman, Charles. The History of the United States Navy’s Landing Craft. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Department of the Navy, 1944.

Image: “Higgins Boat Landing.” The World War II Museum. 1944.