Special Operations Craft – Riverine

	SOC-R transiting the Salt River in northern Kentucky during pre-deployment training
Class overview
Name	SOC-R (Special Operations Craft Riverine)
Builders	United States Marine Inc.
Operators	United States Navy
General characteristics
Type	River boat
Displacement	16,200 pounds (7,300 kg) (empty); 20,800 pounds (9,400 kg) (max loadout);
Length	33 ft (10 m)
Beam	2.97m
Draft	2 ft (0.61 m)
Propulsion	2 × 440 hp Yanmar 6LY2M-STE diesel engines each driving a Hamilton HJ292 water pump-jet
Speed	40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph)
Range	125 nautical miles (232 km; 144 mi)
Capacity	700 lbs cargo
Troops	8 SEALs
Crew	4 crew (1 helmsman, 3 gunners)
Sensors and ; processing systems	Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR); GPS navigation; IFF (identification Friend or Foe) gear; VHF/HF/UHF/FM Net & SATCOMM;
Armament	2 × GAU-17 miniguns (forward); 1 × M2HB .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine gun (aft); 2 × M240B 7.62 mm light machine gun(s) (side-mounted); 2 × 40 mm Mk 19 grenade launcher;
Armor	Ballistic protection (up to .7.62mm x 39mm ball) for the engines, helmsman and gunners

Special Operations Craft – Riverine is a boat used by the United States Navy to perform short-range insertion and extraction of special operations forces in river and near-shore environments. It replaced the Patrol Boat, River, and the mini armored troop carrier.[1][2]

Design

Designed for speed and tight turns, the SOC-R's V-shape belly allows the boat to skate along the surface, with relatively little drag on the hull. There is no hanging rudder or propeller blades to snag on submerged roots and rocks.

The SOC-R's five weapon mounts provide a 360-degree field of fire. The aft-mounted .50 cal covers the boat crew as they leave the shore after an extraction.

The SOC-R and its tractor and trailer fits aboard C-130 or larger aircraft.

The craft can also be slung under an Army MH-47 helicopter using the MEATS system, which allows Combatant-Craft Crewmen to fast-rope from the helicopter onto the craft during insertion and climb a ladder from the boat to the helicopter during extraction.

Crew

Each SOC-R is crewed by four Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) and can carry four more people.[3] The craft are operated only by members of Special Boat Team 22 (SBT-22), based in Stennis, Mississippi. These river crews conduct mainly clandestine combat missions, often operating at night with little or no air support.

Image gallery

References

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a12728/4303591/ Behind the Scenes With a Special Ops Gunboat Crew, 2009-10-30
Special Operations Craft-Riverine (SOC-R)
"United States Naval Special Warfare Command 2010 Fact File" (PDF). U.S. Navy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] ttp://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a12728/4303591/ Behind the Scenes With a Special Ops Gunboat Crew, 2009-10-30

[2] Special Operations Craft-Riverine (SOC-R)

[fact_file-3] "United States Naval Special Warfare Command 2010 Fact File" (PDF). U.S. Navy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.