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Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for vessels created during World War II to support amphibious operations by carrying vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore. The first tank landing ships were built to British requirements by converting existing ships, then the British and US collaborated upon a joint design. About 1,000 LSTs were laid down in the United States during World War II for use by the Allies. Eighty more were built in the United Kingdom and Canada. ==LST Mk.1== The British evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940 demonstrated to the Admiralty that the Allies needed relatively large, ocean-going ships that could handle shore-to-shore delivery of tanks and other vehicles in amphibious assaults upon the continent of Europe. As an interim measure, three 4,000- to 4,800-GRT tankers, built to pass over the restrictive bars of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, were selected for conversion because of their shallow draft. Bow doors and ramps were added to these ships, which became the first tank landing ships, "LST (1)": , and .〔 They later proved their worth during the invasion of Algeria in 1942, but their bluff bows made for inadequate speed and pointed out the need for an all-new design incorporating a sleeker hull. The first purpose-built LST design was . It was a scaled-down design from ideas penned by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In order that it could carry 13 Churchill infantry tanks, 27 other vehicles and nearly 200 men (in addition to the crew) at a speed of 18 knots, it could not have a shallow draught sufficient for easy unloading. As a result, each of the three (''Boxer'', ''Bruiser'', and ''Thruster'') ordered in March 1941 had a very long ramp stowed behind the bow doors.〔Brown, D.K., ''Nelson to Vanguard'' pp. 142–143〕 The three ships were converted to "Fighter Direction Ships" for the invasion of Normandy. The U.S. were to build seven LST(1) but in light of the problems with the design and progress with the LCT Mark II the plans were cancelled. Construction of the LCT(1)s took until 1943 and the first US LCT(2) was launched before them.〔Rottman p.6〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Landing Ship, Tank」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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