DUKW
Encyclopedia : D : DU : DUK : DUKW
| |
| DUKW | |
|---|---|
| General characteristics | |
| Crew | 2-3 |
| Length | 31 ft |
| Width | 8 ft 2 in |
| Height | 8 ft 10 in w/o ring mount |
| Weight | 6.5 t (14,320 lb) |
| Armour and armament | |
| Armour | - |
| Main armament | provision for an MG mount |
| Secondary armament | - |
| Mobility | |
| Power plant | GMC 6-cylinder 270 cid 91 hp |
| Suspension | w heels, 6x6 |
| Road speed | 50 mph, water 6 mph |
| Power/weight | 14 hp/tonne |
| Range | |
The DUKW (popularly pronounced DUCK) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was originally designed inside General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks.
The DUKW was used in landings in the Pacific, in North Africa, and on the D-Day beaches of Normandy. With the enemy holding all available ports, DUKWs carried 18 million tons of supplies ashore in the 90 days following the landing (see Mulberry harbor).
The DUKW was designed by Rod Stephens Jr. of Sparkman & Stephens Inc. yacht designers, Dennis Puleston, a British deep water sailor, and Frank W. Speir, an ROTC Lieutenant out of MIT. Developed by the National Defense Research Committee and the Office of Scientific Research and Development, it was initially rejected by the armed services. When a U.S. Coast Guard patrol craft ran aground on a sandbar near Provincetown, Massachusetts, an experimental DUKW happened to be in the area for a demonstration scheduled to take place a few days later. Winds up to 60 knots (110 km/h), rain, and heavy surf prevented conventional craft from rescuing the seven stranded Coast Guardsmen, but the DUKW had no trouble, and the military opposition melted. The DUKW would later prove its seaworthiness by crossing the English Channel.
Although its designation as a DUKW may seem to be a military pun, the terminology developed for military vehicles in World War II; the D indicates a vehicle designed in 1942, the U meant "utility (amphibious)", the K indicated all-wheel drive and the W indicated two powered rear axles. The DUKW was built around a conventional six-wheel-drive military truck called the CCKW, with the addition of a watertight hull and a propeller. The vehicle was built by the GMC division of General Motors (called Yellow Truck and Coach at the beginning of the war). It was powered by a GMC Straight-6 engine of 270 in³ (4.4 L). The DUKW weighed 7.5 tons and operated at 6.4 mph (10 km/h) on water and 50 mph (80 km/h) on land. It was 31 feet (9.3 m) long, 8.25 feet (2.4 m) wide, and 8.8 feet (2.6 m) high with the folding-canvas top up. More than 21,000 were manufactured. Contrary to its outward appearance it was not an armored vehicle, being plated with sheet steel between 1/16" and 1/8" thick to keep the weight down. A high-capacity bilge pump system kept the DUKW afloat if the thin hull was breached by holes up to a couple inches in diameter.
The DUKW was the first vehicle to allow the driver to vary the tire pressure from inside the cab, an accomplishment of Speir's devise. The tires could be fully inflated for hard surfaces such as roads and less inflated for softer surfaces—especially beach sand. This added to the DUKW's great versatility as an amphibious vehicle. This feature is now standard on many military vehicles.
Post-War use
In the latter '40s and throughout the '50s, while Speir, now Project Engineer for the Army's Amphibious Warfare Program, worked on 'bigger and better' Amphibious vehicles such as the 'Super Duck,' the 'Drake' and the mammoth 'BARC' (Barge, Amphibious, Resupply, Cargo), a good many DUKWs were surplussed and put to good use as amphibious rescue vehicles by fire departments and even, coming full circle, by various Coast Guard stations.Several were used by abilone fisherman of San Luis Obispo County California to take their catch right off the boats and directly to market, neating combining the two steps of off-loading onto smaller craft, and then transferring to trucks once they reached the beach.
Many DUKWs are still in use, primarily as tourist transport in harbor and river cities including London, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin Dells, Seattle, Halifax, Nova Scotia, San Francisco, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Dublin, Grapevine, Texas, Branson, Missouri, Portland, Maine, Portland, Oregon, and Liverpool, England.
The Boston Red Sox celebrated their 2004 World Series victory with a parade of 17 DUKWs carrying members of the team over land and across the Charles River while broadcasters erroneously referred to the vehicles as duck boats. The Seafair Pirates in Seattle use a DUKW modifed to look like a Spanish Galleon as their primary means of amphibious transport.
The [Viking Splash Tours] operate a city tour of land and water. A costumed guide motivates the people on board to act like Vikings and use the 'Viking Roar' to scare the Celts! The water portion of the tour is a small adventure into the history of Inland Waterways as opposed to other DUKW tours that operate on Rivers and Bays.
Almost all have been repainted, and given modern diesel engines and enclosed tops, making them more resemble conventional buses. Most require a bus-type Public Service Vehicle license and a passenger-use boat license.
See also
- amphibious vehicle
- tourist trolley
- Terrapin (amphibious vehicle) - a contemporary British equivalent vehicle
External links
- [US Army Transportation Museum DUKW page], includes many photos
- [Marine Corps DUKWs in World War 2]
- [Boston Duck Tours]
- [Wisconsin Dells Duck Tours]
- [Just Ducky Tours (Pittsburgh)]
- [Philly Ducks]: DUKW Boat Tours of Philadelphia
- [Duck Riders] - Tours depart [Gaylord Texan] in Grapevine, Texas
- [Queenstown Ducks] (New Zealand)
- [TheYellowDuckmarine]: DUKW tours in Liverpool (UK)
- [Portland Ducks - Land & Water Tours]
- [Viking Splash Tours]: DUKW tours in Dublin, Ireland
- [Slideshow of an actual Duck Tours ride in Singapore]
- [Sparkman & Stephens]: Origins
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.