Above: The LSH for Utah Beach was APA-33 USS Bayfield, seen here surrounded by smaller craft (mostly LCVPs and LCMs) of the types used for embarking troops from this landing ship. (Photo: US Naval History & Heritage Command, US Navy collection at US National Archives)
Thirteen LSHs (Landing Ship, Headquarters) participated in the campaign. These were command and control ships, extensively fitted out for this purpose. They were conversions of merchant ships or warships, and almost all did not themselves carry significant numbers of troops. The most notable exception was USS Bayfield, the headquarters ship of Force U which carried twenty-seven small craft and over one thousand troops.
The LSH was a landing ship rather than a landing craft, but contemporary accounts sometimes include them in the total number of landing craft.