Landing support ship

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Missile armament on an LSM (R)

Landing support ships are warships whose main role is to provide fire support during amphibious landings .

United States of America and Great Britain

The US Navy developed two classes of landing support ships during World War II . These vehicles were designed to assist combat ships such as battleships , cruisers, and destroyers in shelling landing beaches.

The "Landing Craft Support (Large) (Mark 3) LCS (L) (3)", later redesigned as Landing Support Ship Large (LSSL), was a smaller, simply built vehicle with a displacement of around 350 ts . The main armament consisted of a 76.2 mm (3 "/ 50) gun, additional light barrel weapons and ten MK7 rocket launchers . 130 LSSL were built, many of which were given to other navies.

The "Landing Ship Medium (Rocket)" type was developed from the medium-sized landing ships of the LSM-1 class and was far larger and more heavily armed than the LSSL. In addition to a 127 mm turret, the ships carried extensive rocket armament and displaced about 1000 ts. 60 LSM (R) were built in three versions.

In the UK developed landing craft type LCT or "Landing Craft Tank (Rocket)" LCT (R) were converted for fire support under the name "Landing Craft Gun (Large)" LCG (L). Four of these boats were made available to the US Navy.

Germany

Model of an artillery ferry frame
Sieve ferry converted into an artillery carrier with 8.8 cm flak

The Kriegsmarine directed a number of landing craft of the Marinefährprahm type as artillery carriers and designated them as Artillery Ferries (AF). In addition to securing landing craft, they also had the task of providing artillery support for landings . In addition, landing craft of the Siebelfehre type were converted and equipped for such tasks.

The German Navy received in 1958 two units of the LSM (R) -501 class held by the US Navy. These ships carried the designation landing support ship class 551 ( Natter class ). They were decommissioned in 1973.

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