To describe a DUKW in further detail, they are eight feet high and 31 feet long. This six-wheel-drive vehicle holds a weight of about 13,000 pounds and can seat about 20 or so people. DUKWs can reach speeds up to 50 mph on land and 6.4 mph at sea. DUKW is an acronym where the D stands for 1942 design, U stands for utility/amphibious, K stands for all-wheel drive, and W relates to the two powered axels in the rear of the vehicle.
These hybrid land-water vehicles were used by the American Army, Marine Corps, and also internationally. They were one of the many martial supplies given to the Allies through the Lend-Lease bill. With such vehicles supplied, DUKWs voyaged and participated in numerous battles including 2,000 duck boats for D-Day and the invasion of the Normandy beaches in France.
Once World War II came to an end, wishes to make improvements on the DUKW were made. One such relative of the DUKW would be the improved (and obnoxiously large) BARC, now referenced as the LARC-LX. Its appearance resembles a DUKW, however an entire DUKW could technically fit on a BARC. The BARC was introduced in 1952 and would be participate in the Vietnam War. Its length is a stunning 62.5 feet long and 19.5 feet high. The BARC was still made for the same purpose as the DUKW which was trying to more quickly transport goods and people between sea and land. However, the BARC could hold about 200 people instead of the DUKW's, now small, 20 passengers.
LARC-LX (BARC)
In summary, the DUKW design allowed for more ease and efficiency with the delivery of supplies and people for much of World War II by being designed to traverse between land and sea. If you happen to ride such a duck boat while touring on vacation, think about its history and how it helped efforts towards World War II!
Sources:
https://ww2db.com/vehicle_spec.php?q=280
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/can-a-duck-boat-cross-the-atlantic
Images:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/DUKW.image2.army.jpg
http://www.ridetheducksofseattle.com/wp-content/uploads/et_temp/history1-63339_x.jpg
http://www.amphibiousvehicle.net/amphi/B/barcspecial/rusting/B-20/barc-2-01.jpeg
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xrxmlBEhHSU/maxresdefault.jpg
Braden, I really liked how your post related to a part of our modern life and urged us to think about the history. When you mentioned how duck boats were used in D-day it sparked a lot of questions in me because I remember pictures of the men coming out of boats and wading through the water. I found out that the other type of boat they used was the LCVP. I wanted to know if their was any flaw in the duck boat that made them sitting ducks but all I found using the source was that they needed over 4,000 boats and LCVP's were very cheap and efficient and the duck boats were better eqquipped for heavy equipment loading. Instead I was curious about amphibious tanks, known as DD tanks which are similar to duck boats in the sence that they both go on land and sea. Using the source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_tank#D-Day I found that here were 29 amphibious tanks launched at omaha, but only 2 of them made it to the shore. This was because they were launched too far out and the stormy weather made the water 5 feet higher than they were able to handle. 5 crew members died. If they had made it to shore they would have reduced the high death toll.
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