Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

The nUclear arena
Lacrosse missile
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not easily attacked or eliminated by conventional weapons. The missile was also
to supplement naval gunfire and aerial bombardment in close support of landing
forces. The Marine Corps had witnessed the need for a more accurate and powerful
close support weapon again and again during World War II, particularly in the
heavily fortified islands of the western Pacific Ocean. For example, seventy-four
days of naval and aerial bombardment to soften up Iwo Jima had minimal effect
before the Marines launched their assault on 19 February 1945; despite continuous
naval and aerial support, the battle lasted twenty-six days, with the Marines
sustaining heavy casualties. The Lacrosse missile was designed to overcome such
strong defenses. Its principle of operation was to be comparable to the game of
lacrosse, from which the missile received its name, in that the weapon was to be
launched (from the ground or a nearby ship) in the rear area and thrown forward,
where it was to be picked up by a forward observ er with a radio and electronically
directed to the tar get. 31
Early in 1947, the Marine Corps presented plans for the feasibility of such a
weapon to the Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance. As a result, the bureau approved proposals
made by the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins Univer sity in
Baltimore, and Project Lacrosse began on 15 September. Overarching specifications
31 Cagle, “History of the Lacrosse,” pp. 1–2, AMCOM files and copy in CMH files; DOD News
Release, “Lacrosse Successfully Test Fired by U.S.–Canadian Army Team,” 19 Jan 1960, copy in
CMH files.