The FReeper Foxhole Studies the Higgins Boat - March 26th, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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ANDREW JACKSON HIGGINS
AND THE BOATS THAT WON WORLD WAR II

In September, 1943, when the United States Fifth Army landed at Salerno, Italy, and General Douglas MacArthur's forces captured Salamaua in New Guinea, the American navy totaled 14,072 vessels. Of these boats, 12,964, or 92% of the entire U.S. Navy, were designed by Higgins Industries, Incorporated; 8,865 were built at the Higgins plants in New Orleans, La.

Founder and president of this remarkable company was Andrew Jackson Higgins, an outspoken, rough-cut, hot-tempered Irishman with an incredible imagination and the ability to turn wild ideas into reality. He hated bureaucratic red tape, loved bourbon, and was the sort who tended to knock down anything that got in his way. To the Navy's Bureau of Ships, which favored the big Eastern-seaboard shipyards, Higgins was an arrogant small boat builder from the South - a thorn in its side. To the Marine Corps, which desperately needed an effective amphibious assault craft, he was a savior.

Higgins rose to international prominence during World War II for his design and mass production of naval combat motorboats - boats that forever changed the strategy of modern warfare. Thanks to Higgins, the Allies no longer had to batter coastal forts into submission, sweep harbors of mines, and take over enemy-held ports before they could land an assault force. "Higgins boats" gave them the ability to transport thousands of men and hundreds of tons of equipment swiftly through the surf to less-fortified beaches, eliminating the need for established harbors.



Higgins designed and produced two basic classes of military craft. The first class consisted of high-speed PT boats, which carried antiaircraft machine guns, smoke-screen devices, depth charges, and Higgins-designed compressed-air-fired torpedo tubes. Also in this class were the antisubmarine boats, dispatch boats, 170-foot freight supply vessels, and other specialized patrol craft produced for the Army, Navy and Maritime Commission.

The second class consisted of various types of Higgins landing craft (LCPs, LCPLs, LCVPs, LCMs) constructed of wood and steel that were used in transporting fully armed troops, light tanks, field artillery, and other mechanized equipment and supplies essential to amphibious operations. It was these boats that made the D-Day landings at Normandy, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Leyte and Guam and hundreds of lesser-known assaults possible. Without Higgins' uniquely designed craft there could not have been a mass landing of troops and material on European shores or on the beaches of the Pacific islands, at least not without a tremendously higher rate of Allied casualties.



As late as 1930 Higgins was involved in the lumber importing and exporting business. By 1940 he was producing workboats and prototype landing craft in a small warehouse located behind his St. Charles Avenue showroom. When the government began ordering his craft for military purposes, Higgins expanded into eight separate plants in the city, employing more than 20,000 workers. At the peak of production, the combined output of his plants exceeded 700 boats a month. His total output for the Allies during World War II was 20,094 boats, a production record for which Higgins Industries several times received the Army-Navy "E", the highest award that the armed forces could bestow upon a company.



Higgins was the ideal person for the needs of the time. In World War II, with its massive contracts, his strengths - design and rapid production - were all-important. Administrative weaknesses were suddenly irrelevant - the war offered him opportunity. Had the Japanese not bombed Pearl Harbor, Higgins probably would have remained a successful, but small, southern boat builder. Because of the war, he rapidly became an internationally known figure (even Hitler was aware of Higgins, calling him the "new Noah").

In his 1944 Thanksgiving Day address to the nation, General Dwight D. Eisenhower said "Let us thank God for Higgins Industries, management, and labor which has given us the landing boats with which to conduct our campaign." Andrew Jackson Higgins' influence on amphibious warfare and his contribution toward the Allied victory in World War II cannot be overstressed.

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[Mudboy Slim]

"Kerry!!"
(To be sung to Nirvana's "Polly")

Kerry is a cracker...enslavin' black folks worst!!
All he wants is Power...still FRiends call him "Lurch"!!

He's Jean Kerry...demon seed...
He ain't hip...to righteous dreams...
He knows Clinton LIED...RE-IMPEACH!!
Right needs yer help...to whup Kerry!!
We hold out hope...that we'll be bold!!
Promise you...fight Dem fools...
We know FReedom's Right...Devolve Power!!
Right needs yer help...Guv'ment devours!!

Kerry's a whipcracker...DemRATS, they're still Clinton's fools!!
Left asks us to entrust them..."Justice Fer Clinton, you Poltroons!!"

So, we must FReep...endlessly...
It's still hip...to laugh and sing!!
Hanoi Jean, he lied...'bout his pals...
In Viet Nam, Jean pussied out!!
I hold out hope...Right'll be bold!!
Promise you...FReep fer Truth!!
We know FReedom's Right...Devolve Power!!
Right needs yer help...help FRee yerselves!!

(bass guitar solo)

Kerry's FRench...
Kerry loves Big Guv'ment...he is our enemy!!
Right must be on guard...'cuz Hanoi Jean, he LOATHES Liberty!!

He's Jean Kerry...effete breed...
Help US whup...RAT's elite dweebs!!
Hanoi Jean, he LIES...marries wealth...
We need yer help...to Unleash HELL!!
We hold out hope...you'll be bold!!
Righteous, show some pride...help yerselves!!
We need yer help...FReep with stealth......

Mudboy Slim (3/24/04)

[snippy_about_it]

The FReeper Foxhole Studies the Higgins Boat - March 28th, 2004

Thanks for keeping me on my toes, each morning, lol.

ROTFLOL. I'll have to have the admin mods change the date for me.

I've been so busy I didn't know what the date was. And here is my chance now to tell everyone about what is going on.

Some changes for my life have been in the planning stage and are about to become reality. I am moving to Oregon! As I said I've been planning it for some time and now get to actually make my plans come true. In fact, now that spring break is over for Sam he gets one last 'break' and has flown in to help me drive across the country.

This will be a fast trip so we unfortunately will not be able to stop along the way as we need to arrive in Oregon no later than the first. We will be on the road long hours but with two of us we should be fine.

We will have my handy laptop and post as often as we can. So finally by the end of next week we should all be back on schedule. Wish us luck.

A note to some of you that are on this ping for this post: I apologise for not keeping in touch as often as usual or being late in replying to you but I have been swamped, busy and traveling some prior to this trip. I hope to catch up with everyone shortly after I arrive in Oregon and get back on schedule.

I have some last minute readying up to do so Sam can have some time now to catch up on his posts and then we are outta here!! Yippee.

We miss you all and can't wait to get back to the "old" ways. ;-)

[Samwise]

Cool thread, snippy.

[Soaring Feather]

WOW snippy WOO HOO woman!!!

Wishing you the best. You go girl!!

[SAMWolf]

I take a few days off and you guys manage to break the internet by jamming it up with spitballs??? Snippy warps ahead by two days and you loose FR. I kew I shouldn't have gone. :-(

[SAMWolf]

Evening E.G.C.

[SAMWolf]

Hi Ragtime Cowgirl. I missed my morning coffee the last couple of days. See what happens if I don't watch Snippy.

[Victoria Delsoul]

I kew I shouldn't have gone. :-(

LOL!! Hi Sam, well, come back and things would get better.

[SAMWolf]

Oh, shit! Free Republic's gone!

LOL! Looks like I missed all the fun.

[GailA]

Please be careful and GOD speed.

[SAMWolf]

1827 Ludwig van Beethoven German composer (Appassionata), dies in Wien (Vienna) at 56

[SAMWolf]

Evening Feather. I can't believe I'm east of the Mississippi again. Now I remember how much I didn't like it here.

[Professional Engineer]

Holy cow! Be careful Snippy.

[Professional Engineer]

Hiya Sam.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Johnny, another one which with I'm unfamilar.

[SAMWolf]

The Cold War was a lot hotter than most American's know.

[SAMWolf]

Evening PE. Look at the bright side, you have a brand new monitor. :-)

[SAMWolf]

HI PE. Don't tell Snippy but Ohio is as bad as Illinois. To flat, too crowded and too cold and rainy. ;-)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Big change, indeed, snippy.

Best wishes and prayers for you and SAM for your journey, and for a happy new home in Oregon.

[Samwise]

Don't tell Snippy but Ohio is as bad as Illinois.

Imagine being stuck between them.