Coastal River Division 11 was
located at Mare Island, CA. This unit was the originally called
NIOTS the Riverine Training school for the Vietnam war. in 1972 it
was designated a NRF Unit to train Reserves in Coastal/Riverine
Warfare. The Unit had PBRs, ASPB, ATC CCB-18 and would receive Min
ATCs. They also had a small Coastal Det. with PCFs. Many Active
sailors were Ex River Rats. and a large portion of Reserves were
ex-active duty Brown Water sailors at this time period.. In 1978 it
became Special Boat Unit 11.
From: "Jerry Popovice" replica of a patch that was also available
Painting by Jim Gray for a
River Rat buddy of a MKII PBR in the sloughs.
PBR MKII's and a MKI. the old
watch tower is in the background.
06-27-07 Douglas Cates - I was the very
first person to be assigned to CRD-22 in New Orleans. It was
about 3 or 4 weeks before any other activity duty persons
showed up. Then a month or more before we got any reserve
persons. So I am the # 1 plank owner. I stayed there for a
bit over 2 years then went to CRD 11 at Mare Island by
direct orders from Adm Zumwalt. I stayed there for over 2
years and changed Rates from EN 1 to MA1 and left for school
back east.
01-02-07 - Jerry Popovice
When I first got to CRD-11 in 1972 - along with about 25 MK
II PBRs and
two MK Is - we had two ASBPs (don't recall the numbers), as
well as
CCB-18, along with 2 older LCM version of the ATC.
Additionally we had
two PCFs - a MK 1 and a MK
2 (828). Read more here
Qual Sheet ASPB
Qual Sheet CCB
Qual Sheet PCF
Qual Sheet PBR
Qual Sheet ATC
In 1974 CRD-11 developed a recognition
system for Qualified 9533 NEC Boatguys in the form of color
coded embroidered SMALL CRAFT Badge. They were worn over
right breast pocket on their utility greens. Only one patch
is worn at a time. A Blue CC Patch would be replaced by the
Red Boat Captain Patch then finally the White Patrol
Officer's Patch. It was highly motivating and transited to
Special Boat Unit XI when CRD-11 changed its name. The
Qualification Patches were phased out when SBUXI started
wear Camouflage Uniforms.
