Higgins Boats

7 Pages 1794 Words

The US Army Corps of Engineers was the first military establishment to turn to Higgins’ new business to fulfill its needs. This was the first time Higgins experimented with his designs and applied them to heavy duty work boats. He concentrated on speed, maneuverability, and durability. The outcome was the “spoonbill-bow Eureka, the direct ancestor of the famous “Higgins boats” of World War II.” The significant design modification in the Eureka was that:
The water was forced out from under the forequarters and out the aft. Any object thrown in the water close to the front of a Eureka while it was moving would be pushed away from the boat at a point between the bow and the midship. Any object placed anywhere in the back of midship would be pulled under the craft and into the direct path of the propellers.

This design allowed the propeller to receive a constant stream of water rather than the aerated wake from the craft giving it more power and better turning ability. Higgins, predicting the military’s need for a shallow draft landing craft, realized that speed and maneuverability would mean not...