On the first day of the Normandy Landings – D-Day, 6 June 1944 – most landing craft had the mission of landing a specific, pre-planned load of troops or vehicles at a selected place and time. But what did landing craft do after landing troops on D-Day?
Once they had done that, many craft went back out to sea again to collect another load from larger ships a few miles off the coast which were too large and vulnerable to beach themselves. Types that would do this included LCAs and LCVPs which operated from a larger ship, which would usually take them back to the UK later on D-Day.
Larger landing craft like LCT(5)s, LCT(6)s and LCI(L)s often collected further loads from ships just off the coast. They might then remain off the Normandy cost for weeks more, continuing with this unloading role: these were known as Ferry Craft or the Ferry Service. Other types, such as LSTs or the British-built LCT(3)s and LCT(4)s returned to the UK as soon as possible so they could collect a second cargo to move across the English Channel. After delivering that load they would keep on going back and forth: this was known as the Shuttle Service.