Saturday - June 04, 2011

Good Timing

Practically the very same day that we hear that shipping insurance costs are skyrocketing due to pirate activity, the US Navy announces that a new group of sailors have learned how to park their boats. Big deal? Yes! These are not just any boats, but the boats of the Riverine Squadrons. And they learned to park them inside other ships, while those ships were at sea. Say what?? Yup, it’s kind of like landing a helicopter inside a cargo plane, while it’s flying. Only wetter, lower, and a bit slower.

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Michael R. Hinchcliffe, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command Public Affairs

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS)—Sailors from Riverine Squadrons (RIVRON) 2 and 3 made history when they successfully completed the first well deck certification for the Riverine Command Boat (RCB) and Riverine Patrol Boat (RPB) aboard USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) May 31.

“What this proves is that, once and for all, we have the capability with the Riverine Command Boats [RCBs] and Riverine Patrol Boats [RPBs] to bring them on board the well deck of a ship,” said Capt. Christopher Halton, commodore of Riverine Group 1. “With us being able to sustain operations out of the well deck, it opens up a variety of mission sets for the Riverines, from counter piracy missions, supporting amphibious operations or providing force protection for LCACs (Landing Craft, Air Cushioned) operating back and forth to the beach.”

With completion of the well deck certification, the boats have the ability to deploy worldwide aboard an amphibious ship in support of the maritime strategy.

“Once the last boat was clear of the well and it was clear that the events of the day were successful, my well deck team broke out into spontaneous cheers and applause,” said Cmdr. David Bauer, commanding officer of USS Oak Hill. “They knew the importance of what they had just done. It was a very moving moment.”

The Riverine Force, part of Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, is a combat-arms force that performs point defense, fire support and interdiction operations along inland water ways to defeat enemies and support U.S. Marines and coalition forces.

“The RCB was designed with the focus of being a mobile command and control boat, with the ability to control smaller Riverine boats up river,” said Cmdr. Clay Wilson, commanding officer of RIVRON 2. “We’ve kind of pulled it (Riverine mission) out towards the coastal environment right now to fill Riverine needs and the craft has proven to be capable of doing more then just inshore missions.”

The PCB is the small semi-rigid flotation collared special ops craft we’re all familiar with. If you can’t make out the one by the ramp in the above picture, click here for a huge version of a similar pic. They are built by SAFE Boats for the Navy and the Marines in several sizes and configurations. The one is the the picture looks quite small, like it was based on their Oswald model, only with inboard engines and jet thrusters. SAFE Boats also builds the PCB, which is a licensed version of the Swedish CB90. It’s a 49 foot long 50mph gun platform that can carry 2 dozen troops for almost 500 miles, and only draws a couple feet of water. Note how the two in the photo are armed, one fairly bristles with barrel stabilized .50 BMGs, M60s, and mini-guns, the other one appears to have a small autocannon or grenade launcher on top. Both have flush mounted dual .50s in front, controlled remotely from the cockpit. The Oak Hill is a Harpers Ferry class Dock Landing Ship, which means it was built for amphibious warfare, and carries several helicopters on the back, a number of high speed hovercraft or riverine craft inside, a bevy of missiles and self defense system, plus a few hundred US Marines eager to get sand in their boots. A bit more than you’d think would be needed to stop a few Somali pirates at sea, but they have to land somewhere with their hostages, right? Wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean? Or, as the Navy puts it ...

If the Stryker armored combat vehicle were a boat, it might be the CB90, a Swedish-designed shallow-water vessel that’s fast, lethal and flexible enough to be an ambulance or a fast-attack craft.
...
Powered by Swedish-built Scania engines, it has a Rolls-Royce jet-propulsion system that allows speeds of more than 43 knots. Meant to operate in rivers and other shallow waterways, it has a three-foot draft.
...
Depending on the mission, it can bristle with weapons from six different mounts. Wood said the boat on order has a remote-controlled weapon mount for a .50-caliber machine gun — or other weapon — on a mast behind the cockpit. It will also have a twin weapon mount on the bow that is controlled from the cockpit, as well as four mounts for crew-served weapons elsewhere on the boat.

As for a possible new set of mission parameters (Oak Hill had earlier served in Iraq but after a South America cruise finally took time out for repairs and maintenance) ... the Riverine group might be a fighting force without a battle right now, which means they could get the budget axe. So matching speedy little gunboat against less speedy, less gunny Somali gunboats may be their salvation ...

ABOARD THE DOCK LANDING SHIP OAK HILL — The prospect of meeting a sleek, armored riverine command boat and its fearsome array of .50-caliber machine guns at sea would undoubtedly induce second thoughts among pirates who prey on shipping in the Gulf of Aden.
...
Riverine force leaders gave the demonstration a thumbs-up. If senior Navy leaders agree, the riverine force could find itself with a new post-Iraq war mission set outside the green-water arena for which it is designed, and the Navy with yet another capability for the flexible and heavily deployed amphibious force.

Next up will be some rough water testing. If these smallish RPBs and RCBs can get in and out of the water wells in open ocean conditions, then the whole dock landing ship group could have a new lease on life chasing pirates from the high seas right up onto the beaches. If not, then it could be mothballs for the motherships, since the patrol boats and the helicopters can ride piggyback on just about any decent size Navy ship. And if the mission plan doesn’t include putting hundreds of US Marines ashore, then these ships could be surplused for now.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/04/2011 at 10:41 PM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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