Q&A · 1:34:00-1:34:34

Did British landing craft carry flamethrowers?

An anecdote may point to an unofficial Churchill Crocodile-derived conversion, but photographic and official confirmation has not been found.

Question

Was there a flamethrower landing craft?

Short answer

Possibly in isolated unofficial conversions, but the suggested Churchill Crocodile-derived arrangement lacks photographic or official confirmation.

Notes

The official record and an intriguing anecdote do not align cleanly. One account describes a landing craft firing flame at a pillbox, possibly with equipment derived from the Churchill Crocodile, but no photograph or official document confirms the installation. Naval flamethrower precedents made it conceivable: HMS Vindictive carried one at Zeebrugge, and a proposal to fit Tribal-class destroyers for Operation Claymore was discarded. Those examples establish that naval flamethrower schemes existed, but they do not prove that a landing craft received one. The alleged conversion remains unresolved evidence rather than an established landing-craft type.