DUKW

DUKW
A DUKW in use by American troops in France.
Type	Amphibious transport
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Manufacturer	Yellow/GMC Truck and Coach Chevrolet
Produced	1942–1945
Number built	21,147
Specifications (Yellow, 1942)
Weight	13,600 lb (6,200 kg) empty
Length	31 ft (9.45 m)
Width	8 ft (2.44 m)
Height	8 ft 10 in (2.69 m) with top up 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) minimum
Crew	1
Main armament	Ring mount for .50BMG fitted to 25% DUKWs
Engine	GMC Model 270 91 hp (68 kW)
Payload capacity	5,000 lb (2,300 kg) or 24 troops
Suspension	Live axles on leaf springs
Operational range	400 mi (640 km) on road
Speed	50 mph (80 km/h) on road, 6.4 mph (6 kn; 10 km/h) in water

The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the 2½ ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military in World War II. Designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Stephens and General Motors Corporation (GMC), the DUKW was used for the transportation of goods and troops over land and water. Excelling at approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious warfare attacks, it was intended only to last long enough to meet the demands of combat. Surviving DUKWs have since found popularity as tourist craft in marine environments.

The DUKW was designed by Rod Stephens, Jr. of Sparkman & Stephens, Inc. yacht designers, Dennis Puleston, a British deep-water sailor resident in the U.S., and Frank W. Speir, a Reserve Officers' Training Corps Lieutenant from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Developed by the National Defense Research Committee and the Office of Scientific Research and Development to solve the problem of resupply to units which had just performed an amphibious landing, it was initially rejected by the armed services. When a United States Coast Guard patrol craft ran aground on a sand bar near Provincetown, Massachusetts, an experimental DUKW happened to be in the area for a demonstration. 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 military opposition to the DUKW melted. The DUKW later proved its seaworthiness by crossing the English Channel.

The final production design was perfected by a few engineers at Yellow Truck & Coach in Pontiac, Michigan. The vehicle was built by Yellow Truck and Coach Co. (GMC Truck and Coach Div. after 1943) at their Pontiac West Assembly Plant and Chevrolet Div. of General Motors Corp. at their St. Louis Truck Assembly Plant; 21,147 were manufactured before production ended in 1945.