“The Boat that Won the War” Makes Another Landing

Photo courtesy of the National WWII Museum

“The Boat that Won the War” will be landing at the National Inventors Hall of Fame® (NIHF) Museum this month!

Invented by 2019 NIHF Inductee Andrew Higgins, the Higgins Boat, or Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP), was used to land American troops on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. This revolutionary craft was also used in North Africa, Italy and across the Pacific, for island hopping through Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and it allowed the U.S. Army to cross the Rhine River into Germany in March 1945.

At 11 feet wide, 36 feet long and made primarily of plywood, the LCVP could hold 36 combat-equipped infantrymen, a jeep and 12 troops, or 8,100 pounds of cargo, with the ability to float in 3 feet of water.

During the war, more than 23,000 LCVPs were produced for the U.S. military, with 12,000 manufactured by Higgins Industries.

To commemorate and honor Andrew Higgins’ innovations, the NIHF Museum is bringing a restored Higgins Boat to Dulany Gardens, located just outside of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Alexandria, Virginia!

The exhibit is part of the 2019 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees exhibit and will be open to the public beginning April 27.

Visitors are encouraged to climb aboard the iconic boat, take a picture and check in at the location on social media using #HigginsBoat.

Visitors can then go inside the NIHF Museum to learn more about Higgins and the rest of the 2019 Class of Inductees including Chieko Asakawa, inventor of the Home Page Reader, and the inventors of Stannous Fluoride Toothpaste, Joseph Muhler and William Nebergall!

The Higgins Boat will be on display April 27 through July 27. For more information about the NIHF Museum, you can visit our website at invent.org/museum.