HYDROVIUS
“PIONIERLANDUNGSBOOTE”- GERMAN LANDING CRAFT
SPECIFICATIONS. The great pioneer-Landing Craft 41 was 19.3 m long, 5.93 m wide and had a loaded draft of 1.00 m. The curb weight was 35
tons. It was driven by two Deutz SA M-6 engines with 120 hp, which accelerated the boat for up to 19 mph. The boats were constructed in two
mirror-symmetrical halves lengthwise split in order to be loaded on to wagon trains.
This design mean that an amphibious landing force could be deployed overland-and indeed “Hitlers Lost Fleet” –an ill-fated attempt to cut off the
supply routes to Russia via the Black sea-utilized the “prefabricated” design, both in landing craft and U boats. ( Authors note: we found several
of these storm boats which had been scuttled during our Black Sea Expedition of 2009).There were many variants of the basic design, some used
as anti- aircraft platforms , others filled with artillery to aid in close quarter infantry support. The version mentioned here was a personnel carrier,
lightly armed with an anti- aircraft machine gun.