The following types of vessels and equipment were not landing craft but were closely related to them.
Above: An unladen US-manned Rhino Ferry at Normandy, accompanied by a Rhino Tug (right background). (Photo: US Naval History & Heritage Command, US Navy photos at US National Archives)
Rhino Ferries were made from multiple rectangular all-welded steel boxes or cells, five feet long, seven feet wide and five feet deep. Each Rhino was thirty cells long and six cells wide. This formed a self-propelled lighter that could load vehicles from an LST (or other vessel) several miles offshore, and take them to land under its own power, assisted by smaller units known as Rhino Tugs. Both types were towed across the Channel behind LSTs.
Like the Rhinos, Naval Lighter (NL) Pontoons or causeways were made from the same cells connected together, but only two cells wide and thirty long. These were transported to Normandy slung on the side of an LST. Launched into the sea, the pontoons were arranged end-to-end, with one end fixed on the beach, and were used as a pier which to unload those ships as well as LCTs.
Above: US Navy LCT(6) 525 lands an M16 halftrack on a pontoon causeway, about a week after D-Day. (Photo: Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / US National Archives)
The DUKW amphibious truck played a vital role one D-Day and afterward, making use of its ability to move cargo on both water and land. DUKWs worked closely alongside landing craft, and many had crossed to Normandy on board LSTs.
The LVT or Landing Vehicle, Tracked (also known as the amtrac, Alligator or Buffalo) saw use in the Pacific theatre from late 1943. These tracked amphibious vehicles, each holding up to twenty-four men, enabled troops to cross the danger zone at the water’s edge as quickly as possible as they could travel both through the water and on land. LVTs could be launched from an LCT or LST. However they were not necessarily superior to smaller landing craft such as the LCA or LCVP. They were much slower, and many variants had little or no armour. In May 1944 there were 300 LVTs available in the UK, but the Allies used only a handful.