Patrol Boat Light - PBL
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Patrol Boat Light (PBL)
Displacement: 4 tons
Length: 25 feet
Beam: 8.5 feet
Draft: 1.5 feet
Propulsion: 2-155 hp outboard gasoline engines
Range: 150 miles
Crew: 3 + 6 SEALs
Weapons: 3 weapons stations for 7.62mm mg and .50
BMGs.
NOTE: Fiberglass construction, not armored.
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Photo: US Navy
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The Patrol
Boat, Light (PBL)
By
QM1(SW/CC) Howie Nash, USN (Ret)
Introduction
The Patrol Boat, Light or PBL, can
trace its lineage back to the “Skimmer” of the Vietnam Era. The
Skimmer was generally a 13-15ft Boston Whaler, powered by a
single outboard with an armed crew but no mounted weapons.
Indeed, The Seal Team Assault Boat or STAB contributed to the
beginnings of the PBL as well, with its mounted weapons and twin
outboards. The modern Special Operations Craft-Riverine (SOC-R)
now in use, is the direct result of the successful PBL program
Development
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, the Special Boat
Units used 22ft Boston Whaler ‘Outrage’ utility boats. Yet,
still they were unarmed and not used for Direct Action. The
Outrage had twin Johnson, 140hp engines and an unusual covered
bow.
Harbor Patrol Unit, Combat Craft
Division in the Panama Canal, developed the first US navy PBL’s
by using two, 18ft Boston Whalers of the old, twin V-hulled
design. These craft were entirely field expedient. Frankensteins,
if you will.
To mount weapons, two M-60 LMG’s, and
aluminium beam was cut to closely contour the inside of the hull
in the bow. Plates were welded to the ends and four holes were
bored towards the corners of the plates. Identical plates were
placed on the outer hull and bolted through the hull to the
plates on the beams. RTV was used as the sealer.
Two pintels were bolted to the port
and starboard side of the athwart ship beam for mounting the
M-60’s. The two spotlights mounted on the console had homemade
aluminum sheet reflectors mounted on the bottom of the lights as
to limit the light effect on the gunner’s eyes. The boats were
powered by a single Mercury 115hp outboard.
Later, in approximately 1984, the
unit received two Ramo Raiders. These were the first,
manufactured PBL’s. The basic hulls of the boats were the 22ft
Outrage already in use in SBU’s. However. The basic hull was
then sent to the Ramo Corp. for outfitting of the weapons system
and electronic suite.
The Ramo Raider had two .50 cal MG
mounts and a single M-60 mount that traversed on an oval rail
system around the boat. The mounts also had ballistic plates for
the .50’s. These mounts were heavy and dangerous if not locked
to the rail when the boat maneuvered at hi-speed. In addition,
they were fair weapons platforms at best and not conducive to
inserting or extracting troops.
The PBL Comes of Age
Although, the usefulness of the Ramo
Raider was questionable, the benefits of a heavily armed, small
Riverine craft had found a niche.
The primary riverine craft of the era
were the Patrol Boat, Riverine (PBR) from the Vietnam Era and
the Mini Armored Troop Carrier (MATC) developed in the early
70’s. Although the PBR was a tried and true boat with massive
firepower for its size, and the MATC had troop carrying
capacity, they were so large as to require a C-5 Galaxy to
transport them by air as well as large prime movers necessary to
pull them, 5-ton trucks. This limited the locations the boats
could deploy because of the length of the airstrip required to
accommodate a C-5.
Mobility was the issue. The first
deployment of the HPU “Frankenstein”, was done with 2 C-141
Starlifters. Both boats, the prime movers were US Navy, white
Dodge Pick-up trucks, a communications van and supplies. The
Ramo Raiders deployed on two C-130 Hercules aircraft a boat and
truck on each. With mobility greatly increased and simplified,
The Riverine capabilities were from the constraints of expense
and limited AO’s.
Riverine, for the first time, was
truly unchained.
Cocaine
HPU evolved into SBU-26, primarily because HPU was
stealing SPECWAR’s thunder, in 1987. Communism was a fading
threat and Cocaine was becoming king. There was a shift in
priorities to the new “War on Drugs”
On paper, SBU-26 was comprised of the
three MKIV PB’s and three PBR’s for the defense of the Panama
Canal and manning for the unit was as such. In reality, SBU-26’s
had a secondary mission of training and operating with Latin
American countries in support of counter-drug initiatives. This
task could never have had happen using PBR’s although a large
quantities of PBR’s were engaged in combat in the Colombian
Marine Corps in their efforts against the drug cartels. Again,
mobility was the issue. PBL’s were the answer.
A partnership between Special Warfare
and the Drug Enforcement Agency was struck. The DEA at the time
as now, was short of assets to train Latin riverine and coastal
units. They themselves were heavily occupied in actual
operations.
The Deal
SBU-26 would supply the manpower,
the DEA would provide the equipment. The PBL’s would not be
permitted to engage in High Value Transit in the Canal, as that
was a Navy issue. However, coinciding operations could be taken
full advantage of, such as in-country unit training which
occurred primarily on Lake Gatun and at Ft Sherman at the north
end of the Canal. The bullets for training and etc, rations,
uniforms and prime movers in addition to the boats and trailers
were supplied by the DEA.
The prime movers were 1991 GMC 3500’s
with 454 Tonawanda engines , 4X4 and off-road tires. The problem
was on steep ramps, using regular navy pick-ups, it was common
for the entire detachment, sans driver, to get behind the truck
and push, to get the boat and truck up the ramp. Also, I
remember in Puerto Carreno Colombia, I watched a guy on a
bulldozer, plow a ramp out of the riverbank. Nothing like
getting muddy before you get underway on an op. But to ease your
mind, we didn’t have air conditioning or a stereo system.
Cycles
There were four cycles in a
Detachments year. The detachments were Alpha through Delta. Mine
was Delta.
The first cycle was familiarization
with you new boats, yes we got new boats every year, how cool is
that?! To do this we went though training to buff us up on those
perishable skills. Mainly these were boat handling and shooting, trailering/launching and shooting, Driving the prime mover with
trailer and shooting, Blowing shit up, and shooting, tactics and
communications and shooting and finally, the part I hated
most….shooting. All the while the training cadre is keeping an
eye on you so the skipper gets a warm and fuzzy. It generally
fun but it sucks a bit for the new members of the Det.
Cycle 2 is the Deployment For
Training (DFT) cycle. This meant we went to a host country with
two boats, one truck, one pallet full of a Seal platoon’s stuff,
and a SEAL platoon.
Besides personal gear, we had 10,000 rounds of
ammo in one boat for us and 10,000 rounds of ammo in the other
boat for the SEALS. They’re personal stuf was on the pallet.
The primary purpose for the DFT, was
to train us in a place we may well fight one day. The price was,
we had to play with our hosts. Indeed, that is why we brought so
much ammo. Oh, did I mention we brought 10 toilet seats and 2
cases of toilet paper with us as well. We made a lot of friends.
The SEALS would train with they’re counterparts, us ours with a
few joint deals the closer we got to the final FTX. There is
where you had to be careful, as the our host frequently tried to
conveniently get us involved in stuff weren’t authorized to do.
I couldn’t blame them. We certainly were a force multiplier and
they new we wouldn’t bag it on them if they got in the shit.
Cycle 3 was pretty flexible. You
could keep your boats and do more DFT’s and support our training
cadre as well as the US Army Special Forces when one of the
battalions from the states came down to train at the Jungle
Operations Training Center at Ft Sherman. Then again, it could
be a Mobile Training Team Deployment (MTT), usually to Colombia
or Bolivia. This was us training them, on their boats, in their
country.
The fourth cycle was usually down
time for leave or training back in the states. Some guys would
go on MTT again and some would go to Spanish Immersion in
Antigua, Guatemala or at Ft Buchanan, in Puerto Rico.
Then…….Cycle One!!!
Conclusion
The main boat converted for use as a
PBL during its heyday, was the 25ft Boston Whaler ‘Guardian’. It
had was powered by two Johnson Commercial 155hp outboards,
various communications equipment and radar. The weapons were one
.50 cal M2 HB forward and two M-60 E3’s aft.
As we received new boats every year,
the radar mast configuration might be different. The first
versions had the mast secured to the front of the console.
Another version, the one I preferred, had the mast mounted aft.
In the aft mast version It was easy to lay the mast down and
toss some camouflage nets over the boat ,without interfering
with the range of motion of gunners. My aft gunner would
straddle the mast and respond to either side easily. If you
dropped the mast on the foremast version, it would get in the
range of motion of your forward gunner. Additionally, it was a
vision problem while driving and you couldn’t use a bimini top
like on the aft mast version. That top helps while your sitting
in the locks, frying in your own fat.
Guess those guys that thought I was
full of crap will have to eat crow, as the mast on the SOC-R is
aft.
There are many improvements on the
SOC-R, especially in the weapons and the aluminum hulls are
definitely more durable than the fiberglass. See, while Coastal
Guys hate to scratch their boat, a Riverine Guy wants to trash
his….Ooops! Was that a river bank I just hit?…..Well, I didn’t
see this tree branch and that’s why my radome is dangling,
Skipper!. And my favorite, “Howie! Back down on that throttle
when you get airborne!”
Photo: US Navy
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