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| Andrew Higgins | |
|---|---|
| Name | Andrew Higgins |
| Birth date | October 28, 1886 |
| Birth place | Columbus, Louisiana |
| Death date | August 1, 1952 |
| Death place | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Occupation | Shipbuilder, industrialist |
| Known for | Development of the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel ("Higgins boat") |
Andrew Higgins was an American industrialist and shipbuilder whose innovations in shallow-draft craft profoundly influenced Amphibious warfare and Allied operations during World War II. His company, Higgins Industries, produced thousands of landing craft that were integral to amphibious assaults such as the Normandy landings and campaigns in the Pacific War. His work brought him attention from political and military leaders including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Bernard Montgomery.
Born in Columbus, Louisiana, Higgins grew up in the Bayou region where boatbuilding and river navigation were central to local life. He was the son of immigrants and apprenticed in small-craft construction, learning techniques from Creole and Acadian boatbuilders in New Orleans and along the Mississippi River. His early exposure to motorized boats, river towboats, and steamboat technology influenced later designs. Educationally, his background combined practical trades training with on-the-job innovation rather than formal naval architecture study.
Higgins founded a small manufacturing concern that evolved into Higgins Industries, headquartered in New Orleans with shipyards on the Industrial Canal and along the Mississippi River. The company built small craft, dredges, and barges for commercial customers including United Fruit Company and regional petrochemical firms. During the interwar period Higgins expanded into commercial vessel repair and contracted with municipal authorities and companies such as the United States Postal Service and riverine operators. By the outbreak of World War II, Higgins Industries had diversified into mass production techniques, labor relations with unions like the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and supplied components to federal programs including the Works Progress Administration.
Drawing upon regional flat-bottomed skiff traditions like the bateau and techniques from flatboat and pirogue construction, Higgins developed a shallow-draft, plywood-and-steel landing craft with a bow ramp suitable for beach landings. The resulting Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) combined elements of Norman craft theory, motorization practices used in tugboat operation, and the use of transom-mounted outboard engines seen in recreational craft. Higgins collaborated with naval officers and shipbuilders including personnel from the United States Navy and United States Army engineers to refine ramp mechanisms, load capacity, and hull form for surf conditions encountered in the Mediterranean campaign and Pacific islands operations. The LCVP’s simplicity allowed rapid production using assembly techniques influenced by industrialists such as Henry Ford and practices demonstrated at wartime facilities like the Kaiser Shipyards.
Higgins Industries became a major supplier to the Allied amphibious forces, producing thousands of LCVPs, LCM variants, LCI transports, and other landing craft used in operations from Operation Torch to Operation Overlord and island-hopping in the Solomon Islands and Philippines campaign (1944–45). Military leaders such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chester W. Nimitz, and Bernard Law Montgomery credited Higgins craft with enabling rapid troop deployment, mechanized landing, and casualty evacuation under fire. The landing craft influenced amphibious doctrine in the United States Marine Corps and United States Army and shaped postwar studies conducted by institutions like the Naval War College and the Rand Corporation. Congressional scrutiny and wartime contracts brought Higgins into contact with federal agencies including the War Production Board and the Office of War Mobilization.
After the war Higgins Industries faced reduced military demand, labor disputes involving the AFL–CIO, and competition in peacetime shipbuilding markets dominated by large yards such as Bath Iron Works and Newport News Shipbuilding. Higgins attempted to convert facilities to commercial and municipal projects, supplying vessels for fisheries, dredging operations, and reconstruction programs in postwar Europe and Asia. His name became associated with amphibious innovation in historiography, museum exhibits at institutions like the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the Imperial War Museum, and scholarly works on logistics and combined operations. Debates over procurement, industrial mobilization, and recognition of private contractors feature Higgins in analyses by historians at Harvard University and Yale University and in biographies and documentary films produced by public broadcasters like PBS.
Higgins married and raised a family in New Orleans; his private life intersected with civic activities and philanthropy in Louisiana cultural institutions. Honors included commendations and public recognition from figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and later mentions by Harry S. Truman administrations; posthumous accolades include museum displays and listings in compilations of influential American industrialists. His legacy endures in the study of amphibious warfare, naval architecture, and industrial mobilization, influencing curricula at institutions such as the United States Naval Academy and commemorations by veterans’ organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Category:1886 births Category:1952 deaths Category:American shipbuilders Category:People from New Orleans