aft end of the moveable secondary bow 33 here fig2 is yet another enlargement of the bow area that is similar to that presented in fig1 except that in this instance the moveable secondary bow not shown in this figure is raised so that the water breaks free of the hull at a forward portion of an at least partially transversely oriented portion of a keel 54 of the hull fig2 presents another enlargement of the bow area that illustrates how having a shallow slope to the forward end of the gas cushions s allows disembarkment from the beach material that is caught in the forward end of the gas cushion recess 56 when beaching note that it is possible to have a variation of the instant invention wherein there is no forward moveable secondary bow such a design may lack the ability to discharge cargo from the cargo hold s as illustrated herein but would still be quite acceptable and within the spirit and scope of the instant invention in such a design cargo could be preferably offloaded from the main deck or other decks using ramps cranes or other means fig2 is a partial cross section as taken through vertical plane 22 22 of fig7 that illustrates a preferred means of locking into position a moveable secondary bow 33 when said moveable secondary bow 33 is down in its high speed position this is accomplished by actuator means 59 that lock the moveable secondary bow 33 into position it is.