Name
DUKW is a General Motors model code rather than a military acronym. D stood for a 1942 design, U for utility (amphibious), K for all-wheel drive and W for two driven rear axles [1][3][6]. Soldiers pronounced it Duck, and the nickname stuck [1][3]. The Navy and Marine Corps name LVW (Landing Vehicle, Wheeled) was seldom used [6].
Development
The DUKW was developed in 1942 under the National Defense Research Committee and the Office of Scientific Research and Development, to resupply troops after an amphibious landing [6]. Rod Stephens Jr. of the yacht design firm Sparkman & Stephens, British-born sailor Dennis Puleston and Frank W. Speir of MIT designed it with General Motors [4][6]. They wrapped a watertight steel hull around the six-wheel-drive GMC CCKW 2.5-ton truck and added a propeller and rudder [1][4][6]. Military Trader reports that Stephens converted the first truck in under 40 days [2].
The armed services at first rejected the design [1][6]. Its fortunes changed during trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts, when a storm drove a Coast Guard vessel aground. A DUKW crew drove into the surf and brought back the seven stranded crew members after conventional boats could not reach them [1][6]. The publicity helped win approval for full production [1][2].
Design and how it works
Power came from the CCKW's GMC Model 270 inline six of 270 cu in (4.4 L) and 91 hp, driving through a five-speed gearbox [1][4][6]. A modified transfer case sent power either to the wheels or to a propeller at the stern [1][6]. The hull was thin sheet steel with no armor, and a high-capacity bilge pump system could keep the truck afloat with holes up to 2 in (5 cm) across [1][6]. The DUKW was 31 ft (9.45 m) long, weighed about 13,000 lb (5,900 kg) empty and could carry 5,000 lb (2,270 kg) of cargo or about two dozen soldiers [2][4][6].
It was the first vehicle whose driver could change tire pressure from the cab, using an engine-driven air compressor. Tires could be softened for sand and pumped up again for roads [1][6]. Top speed was about 50 mph (80 km/h) on roads and about 5.5 knots (6.3 mph, 10 km/h) in water [1][6]. Some carried a .50-caliber machine gun on a ring mount; Wikipedia says one in four, Military Trader one in ten [6][2].
Production
GMC built DUKWs at Pontiac, Michigan, and Chevrolet built them at its St. Louis plant. Total output was 21,147 by 1945 [2][4][6], although some accounts round it to about 20,000 [1][3]. Wikipedia lists about 2,000 supplied to Britain, 535 to Australia and 586 to the Soviet Union, which later built its own version, the BAV 485 [6]. Heavy Duty Trucking instead gives 586 for Australia [1].
World War II service
The DUKW first went into an invasion with the Allied landings on Sicily in 1943 [2][3]. Military Trader puts the landings in July 1943 and says about 1,000 DUKWs took part [2]. For D-Day on June 6, 1944, about 2,000 DUKWs were assigned in 19 companies, 12 to Omaha Beach and 7 to Utah Beach [2]. Rough seas off Omaha caused heavy losses. Of 12 DUKWs carrying howitzers there, most sank soon after leaving their ship and only one landed its gun [3]. Military Trader counts 41 DUKWs lost or destroyed on June 6 and 7 [2].
Even so, the trucks carried nearly 40 percent of the supplies that came ashore in Normandy from June 6 to mid-July 1944 [2]. By May 8, 1945, DUKWs had moved about 5.05 million of the 15.75 million tons of cargo the Allies unloaded in Europe [2]. They also helped cross rivers, including the Rhine in March 1945 [3][6]. In the Pacific, the first DUKWs were sent to Guadalcanal, and Marine units later used them to cross coral reefs at Saipan and Guam [6]. On April 30, 1945, a 10th Mountain Division DUKW sank on Lake Garda in Italy, and 25 of the 26 soldiers aboard died [6].
After 1945
The U.S. Army brought several hundred DUKWs back into service for the Korean War, where they worked at the Pusan Perimeter and at Inchon [6]. British forces used them in Malaya and Borneo, and the Royal Marines kept some in service until 2012 [6]. Surplus DUKWs also went to police, fire and rescue services and to scientists [6].
Starting in 1946, operators began using surplus DUKWs for sightseeing tours, beginning in Wisconsin Dells [3][6]. Converted DUKWs have been involved in fatal accidents. On May 1, 1999, the Miss Majestic, a DUKW converted for passenger service, sank on Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs, Arkansas, and 13 passengers died [5]. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the operator had not adequately repaired and maintained the vehicle. It listed as contributing factors a lack of reserve buoyancy in DUKWs converted for passengers, inadequate Coast Guard oversight and a continuous canopy roof that trapped passengers [5].
Related entries
Sources
- Great American Trucks: The GMC DUKW, Heavy Duty Trucking (Jack Roberts) (2023-07-04). www.truckinginfo.com/articles/great-american-trucks-the-gmc-dukw
- DUKWs on D-Day, Military Trader (Steve Turchet) (2024-06-04). www.militarytrader.com/military-vehicles/dukws-on-d-day
- Duck Boats Offered a Unique Solution to a World War II Problem, History.com (Becky Little) (2018-07-23). www.history.com/articles/duck-boats-world-war-ii-d-day
- GMC DUKW 353, National Warplane Museum. nationalwarplanemuseum.com/dukw
- Sinking of the Amphibious Passenger Vessel Miss Majestic (report MAR-02-01), National Transportation Safety Board. www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/DCA99MM021.aspx
- DUKW, Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW
Last reviewed November 2026. Spotted something to correct or add? Tell us and include a source.
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WaterCar has designed and built amphibious vehicles in Southern California for more than 25 years. We keep this encyclopedia so anyone curious about vehicles that cross between land and water has one place to start, with the sources listed for every fact.
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