 Ships fitted as troop transports were not priorities for the Navy in fact or in theory, so as a stop-gap measure the responsibility fell to battleships and cruisers to lift Marine landing forces.As a consequence of the standard davits on Navy ships, a length of 30’, the spacing of the davits fitted to these ships, and a weight of 5 tons (the maximum capacity of the davits) were imposed as basic requirements for all new landing craft 

Soon after the formation of the Fleet Marine Force, plans were made for training the FMF in landing operations in the Caribbean.The northwest peninsula of Culebra Island was chosen as the training area.