The Higgins Boat Project was started when the National D-Day Museum, currently under construction in New Orleans, La., was unable to locate an authentic World War II Higgins-built LCVP to be displayed at the museum.  The all-volunteer project is building an LCVP - a Higgins boat - following the original plans drawn by Higgins Industries in the 1940's.
Because of the museum's involvement and strict requirements, the boat is being built to the original specifications, using the same materials as much as possible (sometimes from the same suppliers used by Higgins Industries during the war). This is not a restoration of an existing craft, but a frame-up construction of a fully functional LCVP.  It is, in effect, a re-opening of Higgins Industries for one last production run.
Reviewing the plans - 49KB

Lt. Jimmy Duckworth, RADM Paul Pluta and

Master Carpenter Bruce Harris Review the Plans

Among the volunteers making sure the finished boat will be authentic are workers, supervisors and engineers who helped design, build and test the boats during the war, as well as coxswains and crew who manned the boats in landings in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Southern France, and throughout the Pacific theater.

The completed boat will undergo formal sea trials sometime in the summer of 1999, and will be commissioned into the United States Coast Guard on November 6th, 1999 at a joint service ceremony.  Commissioning the boat will be Admiral James Loy, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard.  The boat will be designated PA33-21, as assigned to the USS Bayfield (APA-33), a World War II attack troop transport ship manned by USCG personnel. The Bayfield served as flagship and command center at Utah Beach on 06 JUN 1944, the invasion of Southern France on 15 AUG 1944, the invasion of Iwo Jima on 19 FEB 1945 and the invasion of Okinawa on 01 APR 1945.

Following a brief period on active duty in the United States Coast Guard, the PA33-21 will be decommissioned and returned to civilian duty at the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans. The boat will actually be owned by the University of New Orleans (UNO) Foundation, and will be on permanent loan for display at the museum.

This informational page about the project is in the process of being expanded.  For now, more details are available in the project newsletters, which we invite you to view here on our site.

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