Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War II

Rating:
Summary: Great Stuff for the History Freak....
Review: A very interesting overview of how the Higgins family of boats (WW2 landing craft, PT boats,cargo ships)evolved to such a prominent role in WW2. Great overview of production challenges, wartime politics, war procurement, and certain national leaders during that era. The description of FDR being driven through the huge boat factory in a convertible is neat.

This is somewhat of a "dry" read- lots of names, acronyms, etc.- but the story itself and the pictures are well worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: Ike's hero wf WWII
Review: Andrew Jackson Higgins and the boats that won World War II by Jerry E. Strahan

This is the story about one of the unknown heroes of WWII. While interviewing Dwight Eisenhower, Steve Ambrose was told by Ike that Higgins was critical in the winning of the war.

At the end of the war, Higgins boats were 92 % of the Navy's boats.

Two of his craft were the best known. One, the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel. (LCVP) were the landing craft used in the Pacific and Italy, Africa, and the D Day landings. They carried the troops in and were commonly known as Higgins boats.
The other were patrol craft, commonly known as the PT boats. John F. Kennedy's PT 109 was one of those.
Higgins came from Arkansas, and moved to Mobile Ala in the early 1900's. He began making a fishing boat there, which later, modified, became the landing craft used in World War II. Higgins worked with Marine General Holland (Howlin mad) Smith on the design of the craft.
Higgins had for years tried to get the Navy to use his designs, but the Navy was stubborn and refused.
However, the Navy craft sunk, and Higgins boats worked, and with Smith's and Harry Truman's committees help, he finally got Navy contracts to build boats.
Higgins also built Patrol Torpedo boats for the Navy. Before the war, Higgins moved to New Orleans and began building speedboats. Many of these were sold to rum runners, and had to be able to outrun the Coast Guard boats. Higgins typically sold the rum runners the latest, fastest model of the boats, and sold the Coast Guard last years older, slower model.

With the advent of WWII, the Higgins contracts skyrocketed and he subbed out a lot of work. He had 6 plants in La, including a boatyard in Houma La. He was the largest employer in the state, with over 30,000 workers. He built housing for the workers, and they had free health care, with doctors on call.

His boats, along with the LST's drove the war effort. Lack of invasion craft delayed the Normandy invasion from May until June, 1944. Higgins was able to produce another 700 craft to support the effort in the extra month. Lack of invasion craft forced the landing in Southern France from June, 1944, when it was supposed to coincide with the Normandy invasion, to August, when the craft used in June could be sent back to England, and reloaded for the Southern France invasion.

Later in the war, Higgins got a contract to build C-46 cargo planes. He built a massive plant in east New Orleans to do this, but the contract got cancelled, and ruined Higgins. Higgins also designed a helicopter, and this work continued until the test pilot got killed.
The plant in east New Orleans later became part of the Space program where the booster was built.

The Higgins plants were sold, but old Higgins works still make the Navy's patrol boats, such as the one Kerry served on in Vietnam.

Higgins was a giant in his time, but became unknown, until Steve Ambrose became interested and Higgins and his boats are displayed in the World War II muesum in New Orleans.

Even today, the Oxford Companion to World War II has it wrong, saying that the Higgins boats went out of use after the North Africa invasion.

It is an outstanding book, one that I had to read all at once, about a relatively unknown American hero.

Rating:
Summary: Giant of a Man
Review: I first learned of Andrew Higgins, when I had the honor of visiting the D-Day Museum in New Orleans this year. The book intrigued me, it provided insights into the life of a remarkable american entrepreneur, during an especially critical time in our history. Eisenhower credits Higgins with providing the means for victory in Europe, yet his greatest obstacles were here on our very own shores. This book should be required reading for the DOD.

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Summary: Heroic Citizens Beat Petty Bureaucrats--A Cautionary Tale
Review: I wish every doctoral dissertation were this useful. Under the guidance of Stephen E. Ambrose, well known for his books on the citizen-soldiers of World War II, the author has produced a very readable and moving book about one brilliant caustic citizen's forgotten contributions to World War II. Two aspects of this book jump out at the reader: the first is that Americans are capable of anything when motivated. Andrew Jackson Higgins and his employees, most trained overnight for jobs they never thought to have, was able to create an assembly line producing one ship a day. He was able to design, build and test gun boats and landing craft on an overnight basis. He is remembered by Marines, and especially General Victor Krulak, for having given America the one missing ingredient necessary for successful amphibious landings-in this way, he may well have changed the course of the war and the history of our Nation. The second aspect that jumps out at the reader is that of bureaucratic pettiness to the point of selfishly undermining the war effort within the Department of the Navy and the Bureau of Boats. In careful and measured detail, the author lays out the history of competition between trained naval architects with closed minds, and the relatively under-trained Higgins team with new ideas, and shows how the bureaucracy often conspired to block and demean Higgins at the expense of the Marines and the sailors on the front line. There is less of that sort of thing these days, but it is still with us, as we contemplate the need for a 450-ship Navy that is fully capable for Operations Other Than War (OOTW). This book should be included on the Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Chief of Naval Operations lists of recommended professional readings, and it should be studied by anyone contemplating the hidden dangers of bureaucratic interests that often override the public interest and undermine our national security.

Rating:
Summary: Shades of Howard Roark
Review: It is easy to see why Marine Corps Lt. Gen. "Howlin' Mad" Smith and Andrew Higgins were great friends. Both were dynamic men of genius who suffered the bungling of lesser men, often times, the same group of bunglers. But neither man would suffer in silence. Smith, along with other farsighted Marines, understood quite early the nature of the coming war in the Pacific. It would be a bloody contest of island hopping across the Pacific to the very shores of the Japanese home islands. The taking of those islands would necessarily require the landing of assault troops on defended beaches and the United States lacked proper amphibious craft for the task. There was a critical lack of troop transports, cargo transports and a satisfactory landing craft to bring both ashore had yet to be designed.

From the bayous and backwater swamps of Louisiana, boat builder and designer Andrew Higgins produced a boat far superior to other designs, the now famous Higgins Boat. Incredibly, the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair (BCR), as early as 1934, preferred to ignore this boat. Even more incredible, in sixty-one hours he designed and built a tank lighter which far exceeded the design produced by the Bureau of Ships. Both craft were largely ignored in spite of their superior performance in multiple government tests. But the men who would use these craft first, the service men who formulated the "Tentative Landing Operations Manual" in 1934 became Higgins strongest allies and chief among them was H. M. Smith. The Marines saw the worth of the boats he designed and fought for them. They fought for the best landing craft which would carry their Marines ashore under enemy fire. But the battle against the Bureau of Ships would not be won until after widespread pettiness and favoritism was exposed by Higgins before the Truman Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program in 1942. One man, Andrew Higgins, took on the Washington and military bureaucrats, the leaders of the eastern shipping industry and won. In short order, he took on a vicious labor racket, profiteering from the war by so-called "labor suppliers". He beat them too.

Remarkably, in September of 1943 the American navy totaled 14,072 vessels. Of these, 12,964 or 92% were designed by Higgins industry. Higgins designed and built high-speed PT boats, antisubmarine boats, dispatch boats, freight supply boats and specialized patrol craft. He produced several types of landing craft, including the famous Higgins boat (LCVPs) and the tank lighter (LCMs).

Of Higgins, General Eisenhower stated in 1964, "He is the man who won the war for us."

Strahan has penned a fine tribute to a truly remarkable man. Strahan's strength, like his mentor, Steve Ambrose, is his prodigious research skills. One wonders what he would have produced had he stayed in history in stead of venturing off to run Lucky Dogs in New Orleans.

Rating:
Summary: Shades of Howard Roark
Review: It is easy to see why Marine Corps Lt. Gen. "Howlin' Mad" Smith and Andrew Higgins were great friends. Both were dynamic men of genius who suffered the bungling of lesser men, often times, the same group of bunglers. But neither man would suffer in silence. Smith, along with other farsighted Marines, understood quite early the nature of the coming war in the Pacific. It would be a bloody contest of island hopping across the Pacific to the very shores of the Japanese home islands. The taking of those islands would necessarily require the landing of assault troops on defended beaches and the United States lacked proper amphibious craft for the task. There was a critical lack of troop transports, cargo transports and a satisfactory landing craft to bring both ashore had yet to be designed.

From the bayous and backwater swamps of Louisiana, boat builder and designer Andrew Higgins produced a boat far superior to other designs, the now famous Higgins Boat. Incredibly, the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair (BCR), as early as 1934, preferred to ignore this boat. Even more incredible, in sixty-one hours he designed and built a tank lighter which far exceeded the design produced by the Bureau of Ships. Both craft were largely ignored in spite of their superior performance in multiple government tests. But the men who would use these craft first, the service men who formulated the "Tentative Landing Operations Manual" in 1934 became Higgins strongest allies and chief among them was H. M. Smith. The Marines saw the worth of the boats he designed and fought for them. They fought for the best landing craft which would carry their Marines ashore under enemy fire. But the battle against the Bureau of Ships would not be won until after widespread pettiness and favoritism was exposed by Higgins before the Truman Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program in 1942. One man, Andrew Higgins, took on the Washington and military bureaucrats, the leaders of the eastern shipping industry and won. In short order, he took on a vicious labor racket, profiteering from the war by so-called "labor suppliers". He beat them too.

Remarkably, in September of 1943 the American navy totaled 14,072 vessels. Of these, 12,964 or 92% were designed by Higgins industry. Higgins designed and built high-speed PT boats, antisubmarine boats, dispatch boats, freight supply boats and specialized patrol craft. He produced several types of landing craft, including the famous Higgins boat (LCVPs) and the tank lighter (LCMs).

Of Higgins, General Eisenhower stated in 1964, "He is the man who won the war for us."

Strahan has penned a fine tribute to a truly remarkable man. Strahan's strength, like his mentor, Steve Ambrose, is his prodigious research skills. One wonders what he would have produced had he stayed in history in stead of venturing off to run Lucky Dogs in New Orleans.

Rating:
Summary: A man who tested his ideas, who listened well, & had limits
Review: This is a study in how to test ideas with practice and in leadership. The primary lessons for me in Strahan's book are how Higgins did this and became so effective, and his limitations. This book provides the unvarnished facts on both. Higgins' many boats were much better than his competitors, for three reasons: he tested his ideas, he inspired loyalty that got the job done objectively, and he was a very good listener. 1. He tested his designs repeatedly. He began building them commercially as work boats. His famous landing craft of WW II, were based first on what he learned in the business building shallow draft boats to retrieve farm equipment marooned by floods of the Mississippi River and the Ohio river. When he got a Dutch contract to build 20 boats, instead of setting up a production line to make them all the same, he made them one at a time and varied the design to see what he could learn. His next boats, for the Army Corps of Engineers, had deficiencies discovered in the bow construction by one of his sons, of being damaged by floating logs. His further boats, for fur trappers in the shallow waters of S Louisiana, also needed stronger bows. A faster and more maneuverable design was needed by people importing liquor during Prohibition, to outrun Coast Guard ships. Build it, test it, make the next one better.

2. He inspired loyalty of the kind that got the job done objectively. To see what objective means, see (1) above on testing results, and (3) on listening.

3. Higgins was a very good listener. He listened to his craftsmen. He listened to foremen. He listened to marine boat designers, including people who used small boats in wartime. The people he listened to, often continued to work for him for many years. He understood boats really well, and he understood people.

One of the strong points of Strahan's book is to describe Higgins' real deficiencies as an administrator by quoting newly hired people such as his public relations agent. He kept far too much power in the hands of the same small coterie, and the loss of any of them was a serious blow to his operations. Any leader can tell you that he looks at his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and finds solutions, but few actually do that. I met few who actually did. Reading this book is a cautionary tale of one bankruptcy after another, for a company whose work was essential to winning the war both in Europe and in the Pacific.

For anyone ever buffaloed in a meeting with people who are really hostile, and who have to make a presentation with a few people who will listen, mixed with a lot of people who want you to go away, Higgins' description of his meeting with Admiral Robinson on August 28, 1941 is of an extraordinary event. Surely Higgins' description is one-sided, but his shock tactics, built on the demonstrated successes of his boats, depict a meeting that seems unique. An unusual man. No college education. Understood his craft very well. Built more boats than any other company in WW II. People who like an inbred organization were likely hate him. Lit crit analysts might despise him. Michelangelo, and Ghiberti of the bronze doors, and others like them who knew how to make meaningful things by working with their hands and thinking it through, would have admired him and argued with him.