Paper plans could preserve lessons from Gallipoli, but only construction and exercises could reveal how a craft behaved in service. Trials in home waters, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean used both actual landing craft and substitute vessels. Faster motor launches standing in for landing craft complicated the debate over tactical speed because the real ramp-bowed boats could not match them. The flat bow enabled beaching, but it struck waves heavily and produced the uncomfortable ride behind the 'stomach churners' nickname.
Notable Point · 16:14-18:21
Exercises exposed the limits of paper landing-craft designs
Interwar exercises turned lessons from Gallipoli into practical tests of landing-craft speed, seakeeping, and the compromises imposed by a flat ramp bow.