laststandonzombieisland

Ever since man has taken to the sea in boats, other men sought to sink those boats. The easiest and best place to sink or otherwise cripple a vessel in question is while it is in port. This accomplishes not only taking the ship out, but also may foul the harbor and further prevent its use to other ships. These harbor attacks occurred in the ancient world and have continued into the present. Combat swimmers, men who took to the open water at attack these ships with explosives have become a very real threat. The Italians sank the mighty Austrian Battleship Viribus Unitis at anchor in 1918.

This feat was repeated by British commandos in world war two on both the German Battleship Tirpitz and the Japanese heavy cruiser Takao. The United States Navy suffered one of these attacks in 1964 when Vietnamese swimmers sank the old aircraft carrier USS Card in the Saigon River in 1964 and four US Navy Seals repaid the favor to the Panama Defense Forces patrol boat Presedente Porres in 1989.

These swimmers are dangerous, and now the US Navy has finally developed an offensive weapon to counter them. The new AGS (Anti-Swimmer Grenade) is set to be tested in 2008. Replacing the elderly Mk3 concussion grenade the AGS will be more of a hand-held depth charge with variable explosive depth settings of 10-100 feet. It is also to have three times the explosive power of the old Mk3 not to mention several safety features previously not encountered.

When dropped on a cue from sensitive inshore underwater sensors, these could prove to be a very nasty surprise to future frogmen around the world.