Landing Craft Infantry

USS LCI-326 during training for D-Day
Class overview
Builders	Albina Engine Works Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard Brown Shipbuilding Commercial Iron Works Consolidated Steel Corporation Defoe Shipbuilding Company Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company George Lawley & Sons New Jersey Shipbuilding New York Shipbuilding
Operators	United States Navy  Royal Navy  Royal Canadian Navy  Soviet Navy  Republic of China Navy
In commission	1943–1946
Completed	923
Preserved	LCI(L)-713 and LCI(L)-1091
General characteristics - LCI(L)
Type	Landing craft
Displacement	234 long tons (238 t) standard 389 long tons (395 t) full
Length	158 ft 6 in (48.31 m)
Beam	23 ft 3 in (7.09 m)
Draft	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) aft
Propulsion	2 banks Detroit diesel 6051 quad-71, 2 shafts (4 engines per shaft), 1,600 bhp (1,193 kW)
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range	500 nmi (900 km) at 15 knots. 4,000 nmi (7,400 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h) carrying extra fuel in place of troops and cargo.
Troops	180, later 210
Complement	3 officers and 21 enlisted men
Armament	4 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon (one forward, one amidships, two aft)
Armor	2 in Plastic armour splinter protection for gunners, pilot house

The Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) were several classes of landing craft used by the Allies to land large numbers of infantry directly onto beaches during World War II. They were developed in response to a British request for seagoing amphibious assault ships capable of carrying and landing substantially more troops than their smaller Landing Craft Assault (LCA). The result was a small steel ship that could land 200 men, traveling from rear bases on its own bottom at a speed of up to 15 knots.

Some 923 were built starting in 1943, serving in both the Pacific and European theaters, including a number that were converted into heavily armed beach assault support ships. The LCI(L) supplemented the small LCAs/LCVPs as a way to get many troops ashore before a dock could be captured or built. As such, they were the largest dedicated beachable infantry landing craft (the larger Landing Ship Infantry (LSI) was a transporter for men and small craft such as the British LCA) in the Allied inventory.