FOXTROT 8 LANDING CRAFT

Over the years we have tested dozens of remarkable craft as part of our tradition of sea trialling something weird and wonderful in our Christmas issue, but what makes this year’s choice of craft so interesting is its unremarkableness.

F8 is a 1959 Royal Navy Type 2 LCA (Landing Craft Assault), although being attached to an amphibious assault ship, it’s officially known as an LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel). As such it was arguably the humblest of all vessels in Her Majesty’s Navy; it was commanded by a rating rather than an officer, it carried no weapons of its own and it only merited a number rather than a name. Yet it was also one of the most important craft of its time. Its predecessor, the LCA Type 1, served an invaluable role in both the evacuation of Dunkirk and the D-Day landings, while F8 itself played a pivotal part in the re-taking of the Falklands Islands in 1982.

One of only two surviving LCVPs, both of which were carried on board HMS , it was purchased by the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust in 1997 from a local salvage yard and was initially used as a floating display on the museum’s mast pond until gradual deterioration eventually led