IMA has a great grouping from a frogman of Underwater Demolition Team 7 during WWII.
They include a set of Owen Churchill of LA swim fins, a Waterproof Bag BG 160 by U.S. Rubber Company, a wetsuit with feet and hood, as well as decorations from one D.A. Leavy of UDT 7 for action in the summer of 1944 off Saipan and Tinian.
It is a really great set, head on over and check it out in detail.
More on UDT 7 here.
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PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 10, 2014) Marines, assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31st MEU), depart the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) in combat rubber raiding crafts during amphibious operations. Germantown is part of the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and is conducting joint forces exercises in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray/Released) -Click to big up-
Each of the 7 Marine Expeditionary Units (a battalion landing team with a bunch of stuff bolted onto it and a harrier/helicopter airwing for support) has a bunch of different ways to get to the beach. These include of course the choppers, navy landing craft (LCU, LCAC, etc), and the Marines own amtrac swimming APCs. However, each one of these MAUs also has 18 of these little rubber zodiac-style boats, designated Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC, or ‘Crick’). Just 15.5-feet long and powered by an outboard (or two) these can motor out from a task force still some 20 miles out at sea and approach an enemy-held beach, port, or vessel with a very little footprint. They are hard to spot by eyeball, radar, or other means, especially in a light chop state. It’s a wet ride for the Marines aboard and anyone who has ever ridden one through the surf doesn’t look forward to doing it a second time– especially on a contested beach.
PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 30, 2013) Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (13th MEU) depart from the stern gate of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) in a combat rubber raiding craft (CRRC).U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian P. Biller/Released) -click to big up-
For landings, a company of the battalion landing team is designated the “Boat Company” and they spend a couple weeks figuring these boats out. This includes sending as many as 36 of its force before deployment through a four-week coxswains school where they learn seanav, and what not to do with these temperamental craft and others to scout swimmer school where they learn the finer points of exiting a rubber raft on fins and doing frogman shit.
In the end, Cricks allow a 144-man company to be landed on a strip of beach or empty pier in three, six-boat waves. The former was done under OOTW conditions by Marines in Somalia in 1992.
Air transportable, Cricks can be slid out the rear ramp of larger (think CH-46 and bigger) helicopters or parachuted from cargo planes such as the C-130 (and Navy C-2 CODs), can be launched from surface vessels such ranging from Amphibious assault ships (shown) or smaller craft like patrol boats, LCS and frigates. They can also be (and are) carried up from submerged submarines by divers for inflation on the surface.
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.