CAB80-25 — Page 240

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7

ANNEX II.

or

le to

er

SPECIAL CRAFT AND SPECIAL SHIPPING.

Original Requirements.

Introduction.

IN our original basic requirements* we estimated that, for certain Future Plans which we have been given to study, the requirements of special ships and landing craft for one invasion corps were as follows:

-

Infantry

Winettes

Assault

Lat

Ships.

M.L.C. Carriers.

or

Maracaibos.

T.L.C. S.L.C. A.L.C. M.L.C. Eurekas.

nd

ild

About 11

70

15

85

62

he

а

re-

the

lus

ind

Revised Requirements.

2. As a result of recent developments our revised estimate is now follows:-

Infantry Assault Ships. 6

Winettes

M L.C. Carriers.

2

or

10

Maracaibos. T.L.C. S.L.C. A.L.C. M.L.C. Eurekas.

44

15

60

44

32

; 70

3. The developments which have caused us to revise these figures are as follows:-

(a) The M.L.C. Carrier, a fleet oiler specially adapted to carry 15 M.L.Cs. is now in production. More landing craft can now be carried in fewer ships. (b) The Winette and Maracaibo, which are ocean-going tank assault ships, are now designed or in production. These will replace some of the T.L.Cs. envisaged in the earlier paper.

(c) The Eureka-a fast American landing craft-has become available, thus

replacing some A.L.Cs.

(d) The M.L.C. has proved difficult to transport and we propose that T.L.Cs. surviving from the assault should do the work of the additional M.L.Cs. originally envisaged.

4. The present position and future requirements regarding each of the above categories as applied to operations involving an open sea passage of 100-1,000 miles are discussed in more detail below.

I. SPECIAL SHIPPING.

›ment

Infantry Assault Ships.

66

3"

5. At present, there are only three big ships which have been specially adapted and manned to take part in a seaborne assault. These are the Glens.' There are also 2 Dutch ships and 6 Belgian ships which are in course of similar preparation. Both these latter types can only carry 400 men each and are primarily intended for D.C.O's. operations. We do not consider them further.

6. Ignoring casualties, which must be expected in operations already envisaged, we are thus already 3 ships short of what we consider to be our minimum requirements.

7. We fully appreciate the many difficulties in the way of taking up a further three ships from trade, fitting them out as assault ships, and keeping them idle perhaps over a period of months, for operations which may never take

* C.O.S. (40) 18 (0) (J.P.).

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