Before the war, Royal Navy planners considered whale-factory ships as carriers for landing craft. Wartime need shifted attention to train ferries, whose stability, open internal space, widely separated propellers, and existing rails suited a stern-chute conversion. Trolleys moved as many as eleven LCMs through the ship for rapid launching. The craft could be recovered and reloaded, though neither task was quick or easy. The conversion shortened the range of vessels that were already short-legged, limiting them largely to work around Britain and support for D-Day. They could distribute landing craft locally, but they could not meet the demand for global amphibious lift.
Chapter · 6:12-9:09
Train ferries become stern-chute landing ships
How prewar carrier studies led British planners to turn short-ranged train ferries into stern-chute ships that could launch eleven LCMs quickly.