Landing Vehicle, Tracked

The Landing Vehicle, Tracked, or LVT, was the family of American amphibious tracked vehicles that carried troops and supplies from ships across reefs and beaches in the Second World War. It grew from the civilian Alligator rescue vehicle that Donald Roebling designed in the 1930s for swampy ground. The Navy ordered an all-steel production model, and the contract for the first 200 vehicles went to the Food Machinery Corporation, later FMC, which rolled out the first production LVT at its Dunedin, Florida, plant in July 1941. FMC later helped develop the LVT-2 and the armored LVT(A)-1, and wartime production spread to four factories. Intended at first as cargo carriers, the vehicles evolved into assault troop carriers and fire support vehicles. In all, 18,616 LVTs were delivered, and the Marine Corps kept some in service until the late 1950s, when the LVTP-5 family replaced them.