In World War II, small torpedo boats prowled the South Pacific, harassing Japanese shipping. In Vietnam, heavily armed river boats fought to control the key Mekong Delta. But in the following decades, the U.S. Navy abandoned its small fighting boats in favor of nuclear submarines and carriers and large destroyers. It took Iraq -- with its large rivers and strategic Haditha Dam -- and the spread of low-tech insurgencies to convince the sea service that it was time to get back into riverine warfare.
Enter Naval Expeditionary Combat Command, a new organization combining the Navy's harbor patrol boats, construction troops, port handlers, bomb squads and new river squadrons outfitted with gun-armed speedboats. Two years ago at Little Creek, Virginia, NECC got together with some old Vietnam vets and started rewriting its riverine tactics. Meanwhile, the riverine squadrons took turns patrolling Haditha Dam. Now the command has gotten its first big workout as part of the Navy's huge Pacific "RIMPAC" exercise this month.
NECC's bomb squads played a key role
-- and even oversaw the command's tactical operations center, coordinating the activities of boats, workers and sailors spread over thousands of miles. (Pictured.)
Galrahn over at the Information Dissemination blog says this is a sign of things to come:
The latter, he says. It fits with what Galrahn and others have been saying for months, that the amphibious ship, aka "mothership," is the key to future naval power, for it can carry the Marines, river troops, humanitarian workers and even scientists necessary to address political and resource conflicts before they become crises.
(Photo: Navy)
