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Special
Boat Unit ELEVEN, located at Mare Island, California
was established on 1 October 1978, and was charged
with maintaining the Navy's and U.S. Special
Operations
Command's expertise In riverine warfare. Originally
established as Coastal River Division
ELEVEN in June 1972, Special Boat Unit ELEVEN is the
proud successor to the Naval Inshore Operations
Training Center (NIOTC). From Its base at Mare
Island and throughout the sloughs and waterways of
the Napa and Sacramento River Deltas, NIOTC trained
over 15,000 American and foreign students In
riverine warfare between 1966 and 1972. Of the five
Special Boat Units now In the Navy, only Special
Boat Unit ELEVEN and Special Boat Unit TWENTY-TWO,
located In New Orleans, Louisiana, continue to
exclusively train for riverine warfare. This type of
warfare requires the use of heavily armed, shallow
draft, high speed boats capable of Interdicting,
pursuing and striking the enemy In his camps located
along the coastal bays, Inland rivers and waterways.
Since March 1988, Special Boat Unit ELEVEN has
reported operationally to the U.S. Special
Operations Command and its naval component:
Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command. Special
Boat Unit ELEVEN is a subordinate unit of Commander,
Special Boat Squadron ONE. In addition, Special Boat
Unit ELEVEN liaisons with Naval Reserve Readiness
Command Region TWENTY. TWO and Commander Naval
Surface Reserve Force for reserve matters.
Until
recently, Special Boat Unit ELEVEN operated and
maintained over 24 craft manned and supported by 150
active and selected reserve personnel, making
Special Boat Unit Eleven the largest Naval Special
Warfare Naval Reserve Force command. Using the "ONE
NAVY CONCEPT," these active and reserve sailors
trained, operated and deployed together.
Responsible
for the Pacific and Southwest
Asian operational theaters, Special Boat Unit ELEVEN
routinely conducted advanced
training deployments to Thailand and recently
conducted the first Navy to Navy training in the
Kingdom of Cambodia In over twenty-two years.
Additionally, SPECIAL BOAT UNIT ELEVEN provided
disaster relief In 1986 by rescuing and evacuating
citizens of the flooded Russian River Valley.
Beginning in August 1987, Special Boat Unit ELEVEN
supported Operation EARNEST WILL by providing a
total of eight PBR Detachments until its conclusion
In August 1989.
Following the devastating Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, Special Boat Unit ELEVEN
provided two weeks of around- the-clock water taxi
service to over 2,900 military and civilian
personnel between Naval Station Treasure Island and
Naval Supply Center Oakland. During Operations
DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, from 1990 to 1991,
Special Boat Unit ELEVEN mobilized reserves to
provide 24-hour waterborne security to vital
munitions loading operations at Concord Naval
Weapons Station. Each spring from 1985-1995, Special
Boat Unit ELEVEN provided training and orientation
in Riverine Warfare to over 50 total foreign naval
officers as part of the International Riverine and
Coastal Operations course. Each October, Special
Boat Unit ELEVEN participated in San Francisco's
Fleet Week festivities and performed numerous
demonstrations at many other local, civic and
military celebrations throughout the year.
With the disestablishment of Special Boat Unit
ELEVEN the title of The "Brown
Water Navy "lives on with its sister unit, Special
Boat Unit TWENTY-TWO. |
