British interwar trials examined how commercial shipping and specialized landing craft could deliver troops to a hostile shore. One experiment used a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship as both transport and fire-support platform. Embarked troops would descend into landing craft while the ship's 15-inch and secondary guns engaged targets ashore. Indian Ocean exercises may have included Gurkhas alongside Royal Marines, tying the concept to a practical imperial deployment problem. The scheme anticipated later combinations of naval gunfire, assault shipping, and troops carried close to the objective.
Notable Point · 1:13:03-1:16:05
Interwar amphibious experimentation
Interwar experiments paired commercial shipping and landing craft with troops embarked in a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship for direct naval gunfire support.