Photos by Petty Officer 2nd Class Paul D. Williams
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| Sailors with Riverine Squadron 3 and marines with the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps practice formation drills using Riverine Assault Boats, March 23. Sailors from RIVRON 3 and Marines from the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps participated in a three-week cross-training exercise exchanging tactics and refining their skills as combat boat crewman. |
From the Mississippi River ironclads of the Civil War to the "swift boats' of Vietnam haven't the brown water boats always been a navy job?
ReplyDeletehmmm....good point...but with the high tech Navy, this kind of low tech job has migrated to the Marines.
ReplyDeleteOne: Are the Marines interested in doing it?
ReplyDeleteTwo: Will the Navy give it up?
The Pentagon will probably give it to a neutral third party: The USAF. :)
one...i don't know.
ReplyDeletetwo...i don't know.
three...i'd rather it go undone than have that happen! but seriously. are these guys deploying or are they sitting on the beach.
why aren't they out fighting pirates or something?
This particular cross-training was exactly that; cross-training between two marine units so both could learn from eachothers expertise. So this wasn't some 'day at the beach' wasting time for elements of both RIVRON3 and the RNLMC Caribean Boat Company. The US marines where in their 'down' cycle and working up for deployment afaik, so this was some extra boat time for them.
ReplyDeleteVideo here - http://tinyurl.com/43fjvgz
Greets.
sorry Marcase. Sailors aren't Marines. There were no US Marines involved in this exercise. It was a Navy RIVRON and RNLMC show.
ReplyDeleteEdit; the USMC often deploy for joint exercises to the Netherlands Antilles, and this cross-training between US riverine units and Dutch 'open water' boat units may be a recurring theme.
ReplyDeleteApparently the USMC wants some more open water RHIB/LCVP experience, especially for counter piracy ops, and (I'm told) they were interested how the Dutch used their LCUs as motherships.
The RNLMC doesn't have much large/fast boat riverine experience, and with the planned CB90H's buy the RNLMC is also looking for (foreign) training waters for fast boats. Camp LeJeune is known territory so it was also a preliminary survey.
Oops missed your comment Sol! Yeah you're right, but in this particular cross-training there was USMC personnel present - got it from a RNLMC boat guy at the scene.
ReplyDeletewhich brings me back to another issue. if fighting Pirates is a Marine mission then what is US Navy RIVRONs suppose to be doing? i get the cross training.
ReplyDeletethat's been going on for years. but this is a different kettle of fish.
does he know the difference between RIVRON and Marines? NECC guys dress and armed just like Marines...easy to make a mistake...besides you wouldn't just send one or two Marines to this type of training (unless its a train the trainer type deal and i don't get that....our boat drivers get taught by the Seal Delivery Team bubbas)...
ReplyDeletelol yeah he does (marine himself). Double checked; the RNLMC was invited by the USMC, and they both visted the USN RIVRON3. USMC isn't in the vid, apparently they weren't allowed to get in the boats or something (...)
ReplyDeleteWhoa now let's get the history of this correct?!
ReplyDeleteFirst off US Navy sailors have been driven Marines ashore for a pretty damn long time. Secondly the Marine Small Craft Company was formed partly because US Marines were advising Columbian Marine on river assautls. That mission is now supported by the Navy RivRons and NECC.
The Navy RivRons deployed to Iraq and took over the SCCO misson there. How come that does not count as combat in your comment (doing the same mission as SCCO)? NECC units to include RivRon dets are on some amphibs. How come that does not count as being deployed?
The US Navy operates several training facilities including the one in Stennis MS. All services also use the USCG SMTC at LeJuene. In the case of the news prerel and photos you provided, you may have missed the fact that the Dutch opearate CB-90s which are the baseline for the US Navy's six new RCBs. The two countries were trying to share experiences.
VBSS is peformed by several services and is NOT stictly a USMC function. The MRF is a new outfit peforming VBSS. I guess the Marines thought they did not have enough to do already (as in mission creep)? Perhaps you were equating river patrol ops to other boat ops? Or were you mixing up river assault with amphibious assault? Believe me whent I say there is a big difference!
Finally go back and read the USNI History forum of about 6 years ago on the subject of Riverine Warfare history. I should be informative? While I was at that forum with other Brownwater Navy vets, we met the SCCO CO and more few good Marine warboat drivers.
You can read more about current situation on the Warboats.org forum.
P.S. be careful of what MCS put into photo captions since they have NO editors to fact check them.
how does a riverine assault differ from a USMC small boat company raid?
ReplyDeleteoh and what did the MEU commander leave on the beach to make room for RIVRONs to deploy? i've never heard of these guys deploying on a MEU. i'm heading over to warboats.org to get the scoop.
ReplyDeleteyes! one attacks and enemy position from the water but does NOT land troops as does the later.
ReplyDeleteAnything one loads on an ARG will result in something else NOT being loaded. Until the Navy buys more or bigger amphibs (not likely) the Marines are capacity limited. Since amphibs no longer have davits and not much deck space to "park" boats, any boat takes up another boat's spot. That can be an LCM or LARC or whatever. NECC boats have been lifted on MSC ships several times but there is very little published about that. Dets of NECC units to include RivRons have been on many deployments. They just don't advertise it. NECC dets go on many of the partnership deployments. You might be thinking the Rons deploy as a single unit? They usually deploy small dets 3 to 6 boats.
Historical note: In Vietnam, the Brownwater Navy had three main operations. Gamewardens TF-116 had the River Patrol Force (and others), TF-117 was the Mobile Riverine Force for assaults as in putting US Army troops ashore, Market Time TF-115 ws the Coastal Patrol Force.
ReplyDeleteI know I have left many other units and operations out of this very short version!