Spruance assigned Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly “Terrible” Turner, veteran of the Guadalcanal campaign, to command all amphibious forces for the operation. Turner, accompanied by Holland Smith, decided to command the northern group, Task Force 52, for the assault on Makin. Turner assigned Rear Admiral Harry W. “Handsome Harry” Hill to command the southern group, Task Force 53, for the assault on Tarawa. Julian Smith would accompany Hill on board the old battleship USS _Maryland_ (BB 46). The two officers were opposites--Hill, outspoken and impetuous; Julian Smith, reserved and reflective--but they worked together well. Spruance set D-Day for 20 November 1943. [Illustration: Marine Corps Personal Papers, Boardman Collection _Japanese_ Special Naval Landing Force _troops mount a British-made, Vickers eight-inch naval cannon into its turret on Betio before the battle. This film was developed from a Japanese camera found in the ruins while the battle was still on._] Colonel Shoup came up with an idea of how to tackle Betio’s barrier reefs. He had observed the Marines’ new Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT or “Alligator”), an amphibian tractor, in operation during Guadalcanal. The Alligators were unarmored logistic vehicles, not assault craft, but they were true amphibians, capable of being launched at sea and swimming ashore through moderate surf. Shoup discussed the potential use of LVTs as assault craft with Major Henry C. Drewes, commanding the 2d Amphibian Tractor Battalion. Drewes liked the idea, but warned Shoup that many of his vehicles were in poor condition after the Guadalcanal campaign. At best, Drewes could provide a maximum of 75 vehicles, not nearly enough to carry the entire assault and following waves. Further, the thin hulls of the vehicles were vulnerable to every enemy weapon and would require some form of jury-rigged armor plating for minimal protection. Shoup encouraged Drewes to modify the vehicles with whatever armor plate he could scrounge.