landing craft

American

noun

Navy.

any of various flat-bottomed vessels designed to move troops and equipment close to shore.

landing craft British

noun

military any small vessel designed for the landing of troops and equipment on beaches

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of landing craft

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

landing craft

US helicopters have been ferrying in aid and US Marines have used a landing craft to deliver supplies from the USS Fort Lauderdale, an amphibious transport dock ship docked at La Guaira.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

Targets: They are designed to protect shorelines and islands from approaching ships and landing craft.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026

The naval island is where the Navy developed the Higgins boat — the pivotal landing craft that ferried troops to the beaches of Normandy during the D-day invasion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2024

Up to 7,000 ships and landing craft were involved, delivering a total of 156,000 men to five beaches in the Normandy region of France.

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2024

There was a tradition back then of serving every Marine a T-bone steak, eggs and biscuits with lots of gravy, and as much coffee as he could drink before getting onto his landing craft.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023