LARC-V Amphibious Craft

The all-aluminum LARC-V (Lighter, Amphibious, Resupply, Cargo, 5 ton capacity) was used by the US Army during the Vietnam War to transport onto the beach personnel and cargo discharged from deep-water ships. LARC-Vs operated the LST beach at Cam Ranh Bay, and also at Nha Trang, Phan Rang, Phan Thiet, and Vung Ro Bay. At Phan Thiet, five LARC-Vs supported the 2nd Battalion 7th Cavalry during Operation Byrd. About 900 LARC-V vehicles were manufactured.

The LARC V was 35 feet long, 9.9 feet wide, and 12 feet high with its top erected. It could go 28 mph on land and 12 mph in water. With a gross weight of 19,000 pounds, it could carry five tons of cargo or 40 soldiers, plus a crew of two. It could navigate shallow water with a draft of only 3 1/2 feet.

The LARC-V shares its name with the much larger Lighter, Amphibious Resupply Cargo, 60-ton (LARC-LX).

Find additional photos and hi-res versions of the LARC-V Amphibious Craft at the Olive-Drab Military Mashup:

Sailors assigned to Beach Master Unit 1 use an amphibious vessel called a LARC to check beach conditions, including holes and sandbars, before landing the Improved Navy Lighterage System during Exercise Brilliant Tern, 9-10 November 2011. The INLS loaded cargo from MSC large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship USNS Bob Hope.

Family of amphibious cargo carriers: BARC, LARCs, DUKW. US Army Transportation School, Ft. Eustis, VA. Circa 1950s.

LARC V Amphibious Reconnaissance Craft filled with U.S. sailors, Marines and Russian media departs the shores of a mock disaster area for a U.S. landing craft during Exercise Cooperation From the Sea 96, near Vladivostok, Russia, 14 August 1996.

US Coast Guard LARC, used primarily for shallow-water flood-relief rescue and as a platform for underwater searches. The amphibian was constructed of aluminum with four low-pressure tires that permitted it to travel over soft surfaces. It could ascend and descend grades of up to 60 degrees. Due to the extremely high maintenance cost associated with these amphibians, LARCs were used by the CG only when the task could not be accomplished by another type of craft. The vehicles, which were stationed along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to North Carolina , were eventually disposed of between 1968 and 1979.

A Lighter Amphibious Re-supply Cargo (LARC) vehicle drives into the waves, during a demonstration held for surviving veterans of D-Day 1944 at the US Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, CA, 10 July 2003.

LARC-V Photo Gallery

458th Transportation Company (Light Amphibian) LARC-V at South Beach, Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.

LARC V (Lighter, Amphibious, Resupply, Cargo, 5 ton capacity) comes ashore on Vietnam beach
LARC-V comes ashore on Vietnam beach.

LARC V (Lighter, Amphibious, Resupply, Cargo, 5 ton capacity) operating off Wunder Beach, Vietnam
LARC-V operating off Wunder Beach, Vietnam.

LARC V (Lighter, Amphibious, Resupply, Cargo, 5 ton capacity)

Pair of LARCs belonging to St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office (Louisiana).