Terrapin (amphibious vehicle)
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The Terrapin (officially 4-ton amphibian) was a British-manufactured amphibious transport vehicle of the Second World War. It was first used in 1944 at
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
during the
Battle of the Scheldt The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Allies ...
. Terrapins served with the
Royal Engineer The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
assault teams of the
79th Armoured Division The 79th Armoured Division was a specialist armoured division of the British Army created during the Second World War. The division was created as part of the preparations for the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944, D-Day. Major-General Percy ...
and were used to carry infantry units (Canadian and British) over rivers.


Development

Due to a shortage of US-manufactured
DUKW The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the -ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War. Designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Step ...
s, the British
Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...
commissioned
Thornycroft Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. History In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its firs ...
to design an
amphibious vehicle An amphibious vehicle (or simply amphibian), is a vehicle that is a means of transport viable on land as well as on or under water. Amphibious vehicles include amphibious bicycles, ATVs, cars, buses, trucks, railway vehicles, combat vehicles an ...
capable of ferrying supplies and troops from ship to shore for the D-Day landings.Brissette, Richard and Bannerman, Mark: "The Terrapin", ''Military Modelling Magazine'', 29 Feb 2008, page 60. Some 500 Terrapin Mark 1 were built by
Morris Commercial Morris Commercial Cars Limited was a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles formed by William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, William Morris, founder of Morris Motors, Morris Motors Limited, to continue the business of E G Wrigley and Com ...
, the vehicle side of
Morris Motors Limited Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represen ...
. A Mark 2 Terrapin with a number of improvements reached the prototype stage, but the war ended before it entered production.


Mark 1

The Terrapin was powered by two
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
V8 engines mounted side by side, with each motor driving the wheels on one side. Wheel braking was used to steer, the brakes being operated by levers. On a level surface, the vehicle was supported on the four middle wheels, the front and rear wheels remaining clear of the surface (the front pair being raised significantly, the rear pair only slightly). The front and rear wheels provided support and traction on soft surfaces and when climbing slopes, such as riverbanks. When driven in the water, it was propelled by two rear-mounted propellers. Despite success in its first military action, the Terrapin was not overall a successful design and had many significant defects, which were never overcome in service. Due to the large diameter tyres, the Terrapin was a relatively high vehicle and, although open-topped, it was difficult to enter and exit. Any soldier attempting to exit over the side faced both prolonged exposure to enemy fire and possible injury from the fall. Like the
Medium Mark A Whippet The Medium Mark A Whippet was a British tank of the First World War. It was intended to complement the slower British heavy tanks by using its relative mobility and speed in exploiting any break in the enemy lines. Development and production hi ...
tank of the First World War, the Terrapin had engines for each side of the vehicle with skid steering. This arrangement was awkward on the Whippet, and on the Terrapin as well. If one engine broke down, the Terrapin tended to swing around violently. The two centrally located engines split the cargo compartment in two and, though rated as a 4-ton vehicle, this prevented large loads, such as heavy artillery or vehicles, from being carried. In addition, the driver had poor visibility as he was centrally located inside the middle of the vehicle. This was compounded by the installation of a canvas cover over the forward hold. As a result, another crew member typically had to stand behind the driver and provide directions. In use, the vehicle was found to be rather slow, and was easily swamped in rough seas. The specification had limited the length to and this made its seagoing characteristics inferior to the American
DUKW The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the -ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War. Designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Step ...
. These failings quickly led to the abandonment of the design in favour of the development of the Mark 2, but the growing availability of large numbers of the much more successful DUKW made further development unnecessary.


Mark II

This was similar to the Mark 1, but had a forward driving position. It was a much longer vehicle, being long compared with the length of the Mark I. Only five of these 5-ton capacity vehicles were built.Ware, P ''World War II Military Vehicles – Transport & Halftracks'' p. 155


Use

During the operations against Walcheren, Terrapins and Buffalo transports carried the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade in what was intended to be a diversionary attack across a mile wide inlet on 9 October 1944. A sufficiently large bridgehead was made that the attack became the main attempt and the German defences were turned. Terrapins were used in Operation Vitality II on 26 October 1944 to carry units from the British 52nd (Lowland) Division across the
Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...
; Amphibious Sherman
DD tank DD or Duplex Drive tanks, nicknamed "Donald Duck tanks", were a type of amphibious swimming tank developed by the British during the Second World War. The phrase is mostly used for the Duplex Drive variant of the M4 Sherman medium tank, that w ...
s led the attack. After the war, Terrapins, together with DUKWs, were used as a form of public transport on the
Inundation of Walcheren The Inundation of Walcheren was the intentional, but ''uncontrolled'' military inundation, effected by bombing the sea dikes of the former island of Walcheren in Zeeland by the Allies on and after 3 October 1944 in the context of Operation Infatu ...
until circa 1946.


See also

*
DUKW The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the -ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War. Designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Step ...
* Su-Ki *
Landing Vehicle Tracked The Amphibious Vehicle, Tracked (LVT) is an amphibious warfare vehicle and amphibious landing craft, introduced by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. (The USN and USMC use "L" to designate Amphibious vessels, also c ...
, known as (Water) Buffalo in British service. * Alvis Stalwart *
Argo (ATV manufacturer) Argo is a Canadian manufacturer of amphibious all-terrain vehicles. It was founded in 1962 as Ontario Drive and Gear (ODG) Limited, in Kitchener, Ontario and was later moved to New Hamburg, Ontario. Argo offers 6×6 and 8×8 amphibious extreme t ...


Notes


References

*


External links


The Clearing of the Scheldt Estuary and the Liberation of Walcheren, UK Veterans Agency

Imperial War Museum: THE AMPHIBIOUS JEEP, AQUACHEETAH, DUKW, TERRAPIN (PART 1) 1943 movie showing various amphibious vehicles (including the Terrapin) under test; Imperial War Museum Collections

World War II 60th Anniversary: The Clearing of the Scheldt Estuary and the Liberation of Walcheren 2 October – 7 November 1944
*

{{WWIIBritishAFVs Military trucks of the United Kingdom Wheeled amphibious vehicles Thornycroft military vehicles Amphibious vehicles of World War II Amphibious military vehicles Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944