 LCT 7074 on display outside The D-Day Story museum in Portsmouth | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name |
|
| Owner |  Royal Navy |
| Builder | Hawthorn Leslie |
| Launched | 4 April 1944 |
| Commissioned | 6 April 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 1947 |
| Honours and awards | Normandy, 1944 |
| Status | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Mark 3 Landing Craft Tank |
| Displacement | 300 tons standard, up to 650 tons fully loaded |
| Length | 192 ft (59 m) |
| Beam | 31 ft (9.4 m) |
| Draught | 3 ft 10 in (1.17 m) (forward) |
| Installed power | 2 × Sterling Admiral petrol engines |
| Propulsion | 2 shafts |
| Speed | 11knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Range | 2,700 nmi (5,000 km) |
| Capacity | 350 long tons (356 t) of cargo |
| Complement | 12 |
| Armament | 2 ×Oerlikon 20 mm cannon |
| Armour |
|
HM LCT 7074 is the last survivingLanding Craft, Tank (LCT) in the UK. LCT 7074 is anamphibious assault ship for landingtanks, other vehicles and troops onbeachheads. Built in 1944 byHawthorn Leslie and Company,Hebburn, the Mark 3 LCT 7074 was part of the 17th LCT Flotilla duringOperation Neptune in June 1944.
LCT 7074 was decommissioned in 1947, and used by the Master Mariners' Club ofLiverpool as their club shipLandfall. She served as a floatingnightclub in the 60s and 70s and was acquired by theWarship Preservation Trust in the late 1990s. She was moored atBirkenhead for restoration but the Trust went into liquidation and she later sank in the dock. The vessel was raised by theNational Museum of the Royal Navy in October 2014 and transported by sea to Portsmouth for restoration.[2]
LCT 7074 was one of 235Mark III LCTs; the Mark III was an extended version of the Mark II design. The vessel was built by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn and was powered by two American Sterling Admiral petrol engines owing to a shortage ofPaxman diesels. Launched on 4 April 1944, the vessel was commissioned into the Royal Navy shortly afterwards.[3]
LCT 7074 had two officers and 10 ratings and she was first commanded by Sub Lt John BaggotRNVR who sailed the vessel toGreat Yarmouth on the East coast where she joined the 17th LCT Flotilla. In the build-up to the invasion of France LCT 7074 arrived at theRiver Orwell, nearFelixstowe where she was loaded with oneCromwell tank[a], twoSherman tanks and sevenStuart light tanks[b] of the22nd Armoured Brigade.[4] As part of the 17th LCT Flotilla (Assault Group L2), LCT Squadron "H" of the Eastern Task Force, LCT 7074 landed nine of the tanks onGold Beach.
Following the invasion, the craft spent several months ferrying vehicles, troops, supplies and ammunition across the Channel. In 1945 LCT 7074 underwent conversion to become Naval Service Craft (Large) 19 for use in theFar East. However, the end of the war in the Pacific meant that she was never deployed.[5]
De-commissioned in 1947 she was renamedLandfall and became the club ship for the Master Mariners’ Club of Liverpool. The craft was later converted into a riverfront nightclub. In the late 1990s, the Warship Preservation Trust acquired LCT 7074 and undertook minor restoration work but when the trust went into liquidation in January 2006, all restoration stopped.[6]
LCT 7074 was partly submerged at its mooring atEast Float inBirkenhead, but following a £916,000 grant from the National Memorial Heritage Fund (NHMF), the craft was salvaged by the National Museum of the Royal Navy during a two-day operation on 15 and 16 October 2014. Over 100 dives by Liverpool diving company Salvesen UK Ltd were required to enable her to be refloated. The LCT was raised and floated into the hold of the MVCondock, which transported the LCT to the BAE Systems Naval Dockyard, Portsmouth to undergo restoration.[7]
Restoration of LCT 7074 was completed in 2020, and she was moved in August to a permanent display at Portsmouth'sThe D-Day Story museum.[8]
50°46′49″N1°05′27″W / 50.780140°N 1.090753°W /50.780140; -1.090753