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The New Riverines

5:40 PM, Jun 12, 2007 • By BILL ROGGIO
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Blackfive posted on the U.S. Navy's new mission in Iraq, patrolling the Euphrates River, including the waterways of Ramadi, on small riverine craft. In December of 2005, I embedded with the Damn Security Unit (or DSU) at Haditha Dam in Anbar province. You can see the photogallery here. The DSU was made up of Marine Corps Reservists who were part of an armored amphibious company (AAV) converted to the Small Marine Riverine Craft. These bots are essentially tanks on the water, as they pack a serious amount of firepower and can take a beating. I described the craft here:

Their boats are called Small Marine Riverine Craft, 40 feet long by 10 feet wide, and are powered by twin souped-up 440 horsepower racing engines. The SMRC can easily exceed 40 knots, and is both quick and highly maneuverable. Because it is jet driven and not propeller driven, the SMRC can go into waters as shallow as 9 inches. It holds a crew of five, and can carry up to thirteen Marines for an assault.

The boat packs some serious firepower to go along with its speed. It mounts two M240G machine guns forward, and either a .50 caliber machine gun at the rear, or a or a Mark 19 grenade launcher. The boat is also equipped to mount an electric powered Gatling gun.

Here's the video from Blackfive:

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