DUKW

The DUKW is an amphibious cargo and troop transport truck built by General Motors for the United States military during the Second World War, based on the mechanical components of the GMC CCKW truck but fitted with a boat-like hull and a propeller so that it could travel from ship to shore and inland over roads without transferring its cargo between separate vehicles. Its name is not an ordinary acronym but derives from General Motors' internal model-code lettering system, which happened to spell a word later popularized as its common nickname, Duck. Used extensively in amphibious landings including the Normandy invasion and operations in the Pacific, the DUKW's unarmed transport role, moving supplies and personnel rather than fighting, distinguishes it from armed amphibious assault vehicles of the same era, and surplus DUKWs later found lasting civilian use as amphibious sightseeing vehicles.