xfleetguy
05-07-2008, 07:25 AM
It’s a Great Day to be a Boat Guy
By: DCCS (CC/SW) P. J. Battles, USN
Just one great day on the water makes me appreciate what a superb job I have. I tend to remember the good days, the beautiful sunsets and the great seas but there are always bad days-huge seas, long transits in rough weather and the cold! You really cannot appreciate the great days without being cold, wet and miserable some of the time. Then there are those missions with seas that would make a fish walk, and your most hardened combatant crewman get seasick.
I will always remember the “great days to be a boat guy.” My detachment was embarked on board USS Cleveland (LPD 7), which was deployed with an amphibious ready group (ARG) to the Western Pacific.
The ship was stationed briefly in the Red Sea off the Coast of Eritrea, supporting a possible noncombatant evacuation mission. We launched two naval special warfare (NSW) 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIB) for maintenance and IFF testing. The seas were calm, and the sunset was fantastic. I also remember on that same deployment, nights when the seas were so luminescent you could have read a book by them.
Naval Special Warfare Task Unit Boxer was conducting maritime interdiction operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf in support of the 5th Fleet. We launched our RHIBs and joined three other small craft belonging to the United Kingdom’s Royal Marines. Our small flotilla began making way at 25 knots. There was no moon, and the sky was pitch black. The bioluminescence was fantastic, so when we got close to the operations area we had to slow down to avoid detection.
Any boat guy knows bad weather; big seas and long transits go with the job. These things all came into play in the channels between the Hawaiian Islands. During RIMPAC ’98, my detachment was tasked with inserting a reconnaissance and surveillance element near the entrance to Pearl Harbor. The Cleveland launched our two RHIBs near Kaneohe Bay on the eastern side of Oahu, about 45 nautical miles from the insertion point. The seas were six feet at launch and getting bigger-inside the channel separating the islands of Oahu and Molokai, the seas had increased to 18-foot walls of water. We could not see the bottom of the wave crest when we looked over the side of the RHIB. I never really appreciated how well a RHIB handled under the expert seamanship of a well-trained crew in such large seas until that night. We got the SEALs to their insertion point and then headed back the same way we came, this time into the seas, head on.
As our craft improves so does the distance it travels. The new 11-meter RHIB has a range of 190 nautical miles. With these new sea legs the boat crew can travel further and stay out longer. But the seas never cooperate, and speeds must be reduced: four-hour transits become eight-hour roller coaster rides. Yet, it is “a great time to be a boat guy.”
We have been given great platforms. Besides the 11-meter RHIB, we have the Mark V special operations craft (MK V SOC). We also have new weapons: the MK 23 SOCOM .45-caliber pistol, the M-4 carbine, the MK 19 40-mm grenade launcher and laser sights. We have Global Positioning Systems for navigation and satellite communications, along with digital imagery-transfer capabilities.
But in this day of new equipment, we have to be careful not to forget what really makes “a great boat guy”-boat maintenance, navigation, heavy weapons and tactical communications.
Ah, boat maintenance. Constant maintenance-everything must work all the time and salt water is unforgiving. This is truly where a good combatant crewman stands out. You can swim all you want, you can do push-ups for days and run everyone else into the ground, but if your boat cannot leave the pier, you are useless. Our craft must be reliable, and boat maintenance is the key.
We have faster craft today, but they also have become more advanced technically. The days of shimming pumps and putting quarters in the governor are over. Diligent and experienced boat engineers are an absolute must in today’s special boat units.
BMCM (CC/SW) Kelly Webb, the U.S. Navy’s most senior combatant crewman once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, don’t go there fast!” Those words sum up navigation and are good words of wisdom in every situation. Yes, we have new navigation systems, GPS and installed computer-driven charts, but charts still need correcting. Every detachment member must study these charts because navigational tracks still must be laid out on paper charts and carried out while underway. The craft we have go very fast but the coxswain must know when, and, more importantly, know when not to use that speed. GPS systems do not negate the responsibility of the detachment navigator to dead reckon (DR) with a good seaman’s eye. DR navigation is an absolute must. If you do not know where you are going and you cannot navigate, you just do not leave the pier.
Heavy-weapons knowledge also is a tool of the trade. The new RHIB supports a better weapons’ package than previous iterations. My preferred weapons’ posture is to mount .50-caliber M2HB machine guns with a PEQ-2 lasers forward on both craft and a .50-caliber aft on one RHIB with a MK 19 MOD 3 40-mm grenade machine gun on the other-pretty heavy fire support for two small boats. Each mount also supports M60 7.62-mm machine guns. The MK V SOC supports similar weapons, but has twin .50-caliber mounts. Any day spent shooting any one of these weapons is “a great day to be a boat guy.”
Communication is quickly becoming the key to all operations. My task unit commander said, “If you can’t talk to me, you don’t leave the ship.” The RHIBs and MK V craft have on-board Identification Friend or Foe (IFF), internal VHF, UHF, HF and satellite communication radios, which can operate in the clear or in the encrypted mode. In addition, each man in the detachment carries a PRC-112 escape and evasion radio while underway, for safety.
All crewmembers in the special boat units are a potential communicator and must be able to operate and troubleshoot communications systems. This is a new area of responsibility and must quickly be learned. The old, reliable PRC-77 is gone and has been replaced with DAMA-capable satellite radios.
Tomorrow’s combatant crewmen will be equipped with laptop computers and digital cameras. The real-time transfer of information and imagery will be the norm. We must adapt with the times…and always carry radio expertise in our toolbox!
A special warfare operation craft detachment is a team. Detachment commanders are junior officers or senior enlisted personnel and must have superior tactical-employment knowledge. A good armorer is as valuable as a good engineer or coxswain. If the engineer is not accountable for his craft then the detachment cannot get underway. The navigator is responsible for safe navigation, often at high speeds, and almost always at night; his “weapon” is usually a radar and his ability to discern contacts. The petty officer in charge is responsible for his craft, crew and weapons. Nowhere today in the U.S. Navy do junior enlisted personnel have so much authority, including weapons-release authority. In addition, as a RHIB detachment chief, I have the pride of calling these fine young Sailors, “my detachment.”
We work for the Special Operation Command, and we’re trained at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, Calif. We are not SEALs, but instead, highly trained Naval Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen. We have a proud heritage that started in the littoral waterways of Vietnam and continues in today’s Sailors. And, yes, today is a “great day to be a boat guy.”
By: DCCS (CC/SW) P. J. Battles, USN
Just one great day on the water makes me appreciate what a superb job I have. I tend to remember the good days, the beautiful sunsets and the great seas but there are always bad days-huge seas, long transits in rough weather and the cold! You really cannot appreciate the great days without being cold, wet and miserable some of the time. Then there are those missions with seas that would make a fish walk, and your most hardened combatant crewman get seasick.
I will always remember the “great days to be a boat guy.” My detachment was embarked on board USS Cleveland (LPD 7), which was deployed with an amphibious ready group (ARG) to the Western Pacific.
The ship was stationed briefly in the Red Sea off the Coast of Eritrea, supporting a possible noncombatant evacuation mission. We launched two naval special warfare (NSW) 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIB) for maintenance and IFF testing. The seas were calm, and the sunset was fantastic. I also remember on that same deployment, nights when the seas were so luminescent you could have read a book by them.
Naval Special Warfare Task Unit Boxer was conducting maritime interdiction operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf in support of the 5th Fleet. We launched our RHIBs and joined three other small craft belonging to the United Kingdom’s Royal Marines. Our small flotilla began making way at 25 knots. There was no moon, and the sky was pitch black. The bioluminescence was fantastic, so when we got close to the operations area we had to slow down to avoid detection.
Any boat guy knows bad weather; big seas and long transits go with the job. These things all came into play in the channels between the Hawaiian Islands. During RIMPAC ’98, my detachment was tasked with inserting a reconnaissance and surveillance element near the entrance to Pearl Harbor. The Cleveland launched our two RHIBs near Kaneohe Bay on the eastern side of Oahu, about 45 nautical miles from the insertion point. The seas were six feet at launch and getting bigger-inside the channel separating the islands of Oahu and Molokai, the seas had increased to 18-foot walls of water. We could not see the bottom of the wave crest when we looked over the side of the RHIB. I never really appreciated how well a RHIB handled under the expert seamanship of a well-trained crew in such large seas until that night. We got the SEALs to their insertion point and then headed back the same way we came, this time into the seas, head on.
As our craft improves so does the distance it travels. The new 11-meter RHIB has a range of 190 nautical miles. With these new sea legs the boat crew can travel further and stay out longer. But the seas never cooperate, and speeds must be reduced: four-hour transits become eight-hour roller coaster rides. Yet, it is “a great time to be a boat guy.”
We have been given great platforms. Besides the 11-meter RHIB, we have the Mark V special operations craft (MK V SOC). We also have new weapons: the MK 23 SOCOM .45-caliber pistol, the M-4 carbine, the MK 19 40-mm grenade launcher and laser sights. We have Global Positioning Systems for navigation and satellite communications, along with digital imagery-transfer capabilities.
But in this day of new equipment, we have to be careful not to forget what really makes “a great boat guy”-boat maintenance, navigation, heavy weapons and tactical communications.
Ah, boat maintenance. Constant maintenance-everything must work all the time and salt water is unforgiving. This is truly where a good combatant crewman stands out. You can swim all you want, you can do push-ups for days and run everyone else into the ground, but if your boat cannot leave the pier, you are useless. Our craft must be reliable, and boat maintenance is the key.
We have faster craft today, but they also have become more advanced technically. The days of shimming pumps and putting quarters in the governor are over. Diligent and experienced boat engineers are an absolute must in today’s special boat units.
BMCM (CC/SW) Kelly Webb, the U.S. Navy’s most senior combatant crewman once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, don’t go there fast!” Those words sum up navigation and are good words of wisdom in every situation. Yes, we have new navigation systems, GPS and installed computer-driven charts, but charts still need correcting. Every detachment member must study these charts because navigational tracks still must be laid out on paper charts and carried out while underway. The craft we have go very fast but the coxswain must know when, and, more importantly, know when not to use that speed. GPS systems do not negate the responsibility of the detachment navigator to dead reckon (DR) with a good seaman’s eye. DR navigation is an absolute must. If you do not know where you are going and you cannot navigate, you just do not leave the pier.
Heavy-weapons knowledge also is a tool of the trade. The new RHIB supports a better weapons’ package than previous iterations. My preferred weapons’ posture is to mount .50-caliber M2HB machine guns with a PEQ-2 lasers forward on both craft and a .50-caliber aft on one RHIB with a MK 19 MOD 3 40-mm grenade machine gun on the other-pretty heavy fire support for two small boats. Each mount also supports M60 7.62-mm machine guns. The MK V SOC supports similar weapons, but has twin .50-caliber mounts. Any day spent shooting any one of these weapons is “a great day to be a boat guy.”
Communication is quickly becoming the key to all operations. My task unit commander said, “If you can’t talk to me, you don’t leave the ship.” The RHIBs and MK V craft have on-board Identification Friend or Foe (IFF), internal VHF, UHF, HF and satellite communication radios, which can operate in the clear or in the encrypted mode. In addition, each man in the detachment carries a PRC-112 escape and evasion radio while underway, for safety.
All crewmembers in the special boat units are a potential communicator and must be able to operate and troubleshoot communications systems. This is a new area of responsibility and must quickly be learned. The old, reliable PRC-77 is gone and has been replaced with DAMA-capable satellite radios.
Tomorrow’s combatant crewmen will be equipped with laptop computers and digital cameras. The real-time transfer of information and imagery will be the norm. We must adapt with the times…and always carry radio expertise in our toolbox!
A special warfare operation craft detachment is a team. Detachment commanders are junior officers or senior enlisted personnel and must have superior tactical-employment knowledge. A good armorer is as valuable as a good engineer or coxswain. If the engineer is not accountable for his craft then the detachment cannot get underway. The navigator is responsible for safe navigation, often at high speeds, and almost always at night; his “weapon” is usually a radar and his ability to discern contacts. The petty officer in charge is responsible for his craft, crew and weapons. Nowhere today in the U.S. Navy do junior enlisted personnel have so much authority, including weapons-release authority. In addition, as a RHIB detachment chief, I have the pride of calling these fine young Sailors, “my detachment.”
We work for the Special Operation Command, and we’re trained at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, Calif. We are not SEALs, but instead, highly trained Naval Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen. We have a proud heritage that started in the littoral waterways of Vietnam and continues in today’s Sailors. And, yes, today is a “great day to be a boat guy.”