Transportation By SEA

The best way for any SEAL to get to a target is by water! The HSB (High Speed Boat) is about the best way for maritime, but not the only way! The HSB can go about 70 MPH! They were used in counter-terrorist teams. The weapons on this bad boy (not shown) are typically M-60's, yet I did see a .50 cal on one). These guys are only operated by the West Coast SEAL Teams!

This is yet another way to bring in the bacon, a SDV (SEAL Delivery Vehicle). The SEALs use this Mk VIII (Mk 8), to carry 6 other SEALs into an island, bay, or even hover under a ship and deploy the SEALs without anyone knowing! This vessel is so stealthy that even the most passive sonar can not track it! The Mk VIII and Mk IX carry a crew of two. The SDV is not dry housing, it is fully submerged in the water. With only a Doppler radar and compass to guide the silent black object it takes both luck and good Intel. This puppy can take-off from a sub as well as dry dock. On sub operations it is put on the Dry-Deck shelter, and hosted out with the help of the sub crew. It also can carry nice big explosives like a satchel full of C-4!! The Mk 9 is a two crew SDV that has two torpedoes! This bad boy can take out a Carrier and get out in time to watch all hell break lose from the decks of the support ships!

This is the one way to get the job done! Lock-Outs of a sub is very difficult. Subs are one of the stealthiest craft around. They move silent, hunt silent, and don't dare make a noise! The SEALs getting out of this SSN are in Hawaii. Oh how good it would be to sit in a sub for hours at a time and swim in warm water, compared to the 58 degrees at Coronado! These SEALs are used to the cold though and SEALs are trained to go through the coldest part of this earth, the cold ice content, THE ARCTIC! Those SEALs will were 50 pounds of insulation to keep them from dying. There are two subs that have dry deck shelters, there are in Hawaii and the other is in Norfolk, VA. SEALs have to train very hard with the sub crews to get this procedure down.

These SEALs are ready for some action! This Zodiac can be off loaded by a helicopter, sub, or a MC-130. The most versatile craft around. It is bullet-proof and it is a fast little sucker! With a small range SEALs will often have to be dropped near the target to be able to get it in and out using this boat.

This boat is the PBR, or Patrol Boat, River. This boat is armed with twin .50 cals in the front, M-60s on the sides, and a 40mm mortar on the back!! This boat was operated in Vietnam and might still be in use today.

MARK V

The 82-foot Mark V is propelled by two 2,285 horsepower HP MTU 12V396 TE94 engines with two KaMeWa K505 waterjets. It has a fuel capacity of 2,600 gallons. The craft cruises at speeds between 25 and 45 knots, with a top speed of more than 50 knots. It's range is more than 500 nautical miles, with a variable payload of more than 6,400 pounds.

The navigation system includes radar, Global Positioning System, chart plotter, fathometer and flux gate compass. It's communication system includes: VHF-BTB, VHF-FM, UHF/VHF-FM, UHF AM/FM, LOS/SATCOM, VHF-High Band, HF, UHF-handheld, data, and IFF.

The Mark V has five mounting positions for 7.6mm, 12.7mm, 40mm weapons; improvements include 7.62 gatling guns, twin 12.7mm and 25mm guns, as well as STINGER anti-aircraft missiles. The craft can accommodate a crew of five, 16 passengers and four combat rubber raiding craft.

The contract to Halter Marine, Inc. is a firm fixed-price contract with fixed-price options for production of two Mark V Special operations craft systems.

This is the MATC or Mini-Armored Troop Carrier. It has .50 cals, Mk 19, and 60mm mortar on it. This was used in Vietnam.

This weird looking thing is the Mk III! It has a twin .50 guns in the front and M-60s on the side. It also has a 60mm Mortar on the back. I don't know if the SBU still uses this boat or not?

This fun looking boat is a PBL or Patrol Boat, Light! It is 25 feet long and has a .50 cal, M-60s, and a 60mm mortar!! It looks allot like the STAB or SEAL Tactical Assault Boat!

RIB (Ridged Inflatable Boat) An extremly fast and equally cool infaltable boat with a solid hull. Two versions are in operation, a 24 and 30 foot high buoyancy extreme weather craft. Primaraly used for insertion and extraction of SEAL tactical elements onto enemy occupied beaches. The 30 foot version utilizes the water jet propulsion system allowing for the beaching of the craft and close to the beach work if the SEAL platoon requires fire support.

MC-130 It is operated by the Air Forces Special Operations Wing. These boys bring in the Special Ops men only. These guys who pilot them can skim the waters at 300 plus Knots and raise their altitude and drop off their airspeed to about 150 Knots and drop out SEALs along with their boats and get down to skimming the waves again in a matter of about minutes! MC-130's can deliver SEALs at a much higher altitude and the SEALs can then free-fall in to their target from 35,000 to 45,000 feet up in the air and as much as 30 miles away!

These SEALs are fast roping down. These SEALs are part of SEAL Team Six! Team Six is Anti-Terrorism. Made back in the late 70's this group was used in Panama and Granada. Though official disbanded this group still is in use today! That's right, I have asked SEALs and Navy personnel from all over and they all agree that this group is still alive but also still active. Fast Roping is done with a very thick rope as long as 90 feet! The only equipment to stop you is your heavy welding gloves. If done right you can get a entire squad of SEALs down on the ground in less than 4 seconds! SEALs will almost let them selfs free-fall half of the way and the other half they are clench the hell out of that rope to break them selfs. If you break to soon you have SEALs pilled on top of you. If you break to late you risk breaking a leg and screwing up the entire mission. If you do it just right you can get your gloves to actually start smoking!

This is a very effective method of getting SEALs out of the area FAST! A total of eight SEALs can get off the ground in no time flat. With another Sea Hawk acting as a gunship to cover the SEALs escape, it too will pickup SEALs if necessary.

A MH-60 Pave Hawk, it has a mid air refuelling probe, Radar Altimeter, and Night Vision. Pave Hawks can carry SEALs and their rubber boats, called Zodiacs, long distances. Armed with .50 mini-guns and hellfire missiles they are very deadly

Another SEAL Team Six move. The MH-53J Pave Way III or the CH-53 Super Staillion can carry two DPV or a whole platoon of SEALs. The MH-53J Pave Way III can carry M2 .50 cal heavy machine guns or a 7.62mm Mini-Gun too! The MH-53J Pave Way III has a mid air refueling probe, radar Altimeter, and Night Vision.

A very nice pic of a AC-130 Gunship. These bad boys have helped SEALs many times before. In Panama and Granada these boys ripped apart their targets with uncanny precision and effectiveness!

Parachute Ops

Static Line

AIRBORNE! Starting with FT Benning Army Airborne School, Static line parachuting is part of every platoon work-up and is a bread and butter form of insertion. Not as sexy as Free Fall, it is nonetheless a valuable insertion tool. SEALs jump from C-130's, C-141's, C-5's, C-2's, CH-47's, CH-53's, MH-60's, UH-1's, SH-3's and anything else that a static line can be attached. The static line water jump and the night combat equipment jumps require specialized equipment and training. Basic static line equipment includes:

- MT1X or MC1-1B (open cells in rear) static line parachute

- NTR-1 reserve parachute

- Static line extension (for helo jumps)

- Jumpsuit/camies

- Pro-Tech helmet

- signaling device (strobe/flares)

- personal safety gear (knife, goggles, gloves, UDT life-jacket)

- combat equipment rigged for jump: rucksack harness, lowering line and parachute bag.

Free Fall

Terminal Velocity 120 mph! Free fall from 36,000 feet and experience what few humans experience: flying without an aircraft. Free Fall jumping is both an exhilarating and terrifying experience. Try doing it at night, with full equipment, on oxygen from 20,000 feet. With free fall jumping you are commiting suicide until you save yourself by pulling the ripcord! :( Using the Para-Flight Ram-Air Free Fall rig, jumpers can fly under canopy, keeping a tight formation and landing all within a few yards of each other. Free Fall jumping really came into it's own in the Teams when Richard Marcinko got SEAL Team SIX heavily involved in free fall HALO and HAHO operations.

H.A.L.O.

SEAL Team SIX pioneered the use of Free Fall to jump boats and other large operational gear. They perfected the method of High Altitude/Low opening (HALO) jumping from upwards of 36,000 feet on oxygen.&127; At that altitude the tempurature is subzero, and it is common for your goggles to freeze and shatter, and your eyeballs to freeze shut. This type of jumping is very dangerous because of the effects of hypoxia - lack of oxygen. Hypoxia can cause a man to lose consiousness in an instance with no prior warning. One second you are checking your altimiter, the next you are out. bam - no warning. If this happens while in freefall it can lead to sudden deceleration trauma - you guessed it - death upon impact. Equipment common to all freefall ops are the Ram AIr, altimeter, FF2 (automatic pressure activated rip cord pulling device - it is supposed to pop your chute if you don't when you descend past a pre-set altitude). Hook knife, helmet and goggles, gloves, oxygen bottle and mask (if jumping over 12,000 feet) and a sturdy pair of jump boots (I use Danner's) are a must for ankle support.

H.A.H.O.

High Altitude/High Opening jumping is an extremely difficult form of insertion which requires a tremendous amount of training as an individual and team. A typical HAHO profile has a squad jumping out of either a commercial aircraft or military craft with a commercial IFF signature in the normal air traffic lanes so as to not raise suspicion. The jumpers will exit the aircraft at a high altitude - say 30,000 feet, and deploy their parachutes in ten to fifteen seconds at an altitude of 27,000 feet or so. The squad will form up in a stack in the air, with the low jumper setting the course and acting as the guide. The squad will fly upwards of thirty or more miles in formation, using a compass, way points and terrain features to navigate to their targeted landing zone. Along the way, the navigator must correct his course for changes in winds speed and direction, making for a tricky navigation problem. The only thing more difficult than navigating while flying a Ram-Air is navigating with an attack board underwater. Nonetheless, HAHO free fall operations can get SEALs where they want to be clandestinely and ready to wreak havoc!

The best way to move around the desert is by this. The DPV (Desert Patrol Vehicles) is one of the specially design vehicles to rescue down pilots or target a site for bombing. This bad boy has three weapon stations for the crew a passenger (navigator) gun that can take the Mk 19 full-auto grande launcher or the M-60 ( I also believe it can hold the M-2 .50 cal!). The second station is on the top, this can carry the Mk 19 or M-2. The third station is on the back behind the top gunner, this can carry the M-60. The DPV has a 2166cc engine and can go up to about 80MPH! The missiles you see on the top are two AT-4 anti-armor missiles. The DPV can carry Stinger Ground-to-Air missiles in the side baskets when not carrying a pilot. The tires and extra fuel blatters can take a .50 cal. round and still function! This guy can be delivered two at a time by a CH-563 Supper Stallion!

This HumVee is is fitted with the M2 .50 Cal. heavy Machine gun. SEAL Team One uses this kind of HMMWV ( Highly Mobile, Multi-purpose, Wheeled Vehicle) for missions that have distance between them and their bunker. In the Persian Gulf War there was a small team of Three that was out on the front lines in Saudi Arabia that got to be the first to be in combat. The four SEALs were all awake on the third night when all of a sudden a mortar flare opens up and the SEALs ask each other what the hell is goin' on, then they heard it! A rumble, it was coming' in fast, there training kicked in and they dove down as the first wave of machine gun fire opened up near them. Two of them grabbed Anti-Tank missiles and the third had his scope on one APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) and the fourth had his CAR-15 w/ 203 grande launcher on a APC! Safeties were off and they had the right to blow those Iraqis to hell, but they had learned it is better not to fire until the enemy fires at YOU! They were well enough camouflaged so they decided to get in their HMMWV and load all their equipment in it and take-off! They had a bunker full of supplies that could support a full PLATOON! The four men carried the supplies out while one man was calling in support fire. The call never was answered, so they took everything and keep the lights off and speed to a Army safe house. The Tanks however saw them and started to fire rounds at them! The SEALs made it to the safe house and told the Army guys to expect some Iraqis with big guns pretty soon! The SEALs again took-off and got to their base and got a good nights sleep!