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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images -- Picture Data

Photo #: 80-G-45670

"Rhino" ferry RHF-21


Photograph released on 6 June 1944, at the time of the Normandy invasion, in which "rhino" ferries played a significant role.
"The RHF was designed by the Navy's Civil Engineering Corps to bridge the gap between ship and shore, or for short cross channel operations like that of the Normandy invasion. They were pontoons powered by two outboard engines of 143 horsepower. They had steering gear, displaced 275 long tons, a speed of about four knots and a shallower draft than an LST. Each consisted of 180 pontoons attached together, six across and thirty long. Each individual pontoon was a welded steel box 5' x 7' x 5'." (quoted from the original caption)

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than this digital image, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

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25 November 2003