Fleet Landing Exercises - History - FLEX 5

FLEX 5

The Fleet Landing Exercise Number 5 commenced on January through March in 1938 and 1939 on the islands of Culebra and Vieques. These exercises again were only Navy-Marine Corps cooperation as the army no longer participated. The Marine Corps successfully landed amphibious reconnaissance patrols on Vieques when two such patrols disembarked from the USS Manley (DD-74) during exercises from 13 January to 13 March 1939. The Navy reclassified Manley as a miscellaneous auxiliary (AG 28). After a few weeks of hasty work in the New York Navy Yard, the ship served as a transport for Marine units in the Caribbean. In the fall of 1939 Manley went back into the yards for a more extensive conversion. Workers removed all torpedo tubes, one gun, two boilers, and their smokestacks thus creating a hold amidships for cargo and troops. Again, the Navy reclassified the Manley to a destroyer-transport class, APD-1. The Chief of Naval Operations made conversion a priority so the ship would be available for FLEX 6 in early 1940.

The inserted reconnaissance patrols would deflate their experimental rubber boats upon reaching the shore and re-inflate to rendezvous with the awaiting submarine at a predestined point. As for the Marine assault teams they found that getting their equipment to the beachhead during an amphibious landing was a strenuous task and extremely difficult with the existing landing craft. Most of the landing boats were incapable in hauling amphibious tractors, artillery and other important supplies necessary for properly establishing an advanced base. The Marines requested the Bureau of Construction and Repair to design and build feasible landing craft, but to no avail. Soon the Marines began to express interest in a variety of different commercially produced boats. Of all these tested, the Higgins' boats became the best choice.

When tested during FLEX 5 by the Navy and Marine Corps, Higgins' Eureka boat surpassed the performance of the Navy-design. Although the drawback was that the equipment had to be unloaded, and men disembarked, over the bow or sides, thus exposing them to enemy fire in a combat situation. They requested that the boat have retractable hinged door at its bow-replacing the machine gun mounts; and it was adopted as the standard personnel landing craft, the Landing Craft Personnel (LCP(L) by 1940.