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Special Boat Unit ELEVEN, located at Mare Island,
California was established on 1 October 1978 and 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, located adjacent to the
causeway, 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, primarily for service in Viet
Nam.
When
the U.S. Navys involvement in Viet Nam ended, NIOTC was
disestablished and Coastal River Division-ELEVEN was
commissioned to carry on the responsibility of
maintaining the U.S, Navys riverine warfare expertise.
Over time, the primary mission of the riverine and
coastal boat commands shifted toward Special Operations,
taking over the role of the Boat Support Units of the
Viet Nam era. Therefore, on October 1, 1978, CRD-XI was
disestablished and Special Boat Unit ELEVEN was
commissioned.
Of
the five original Special Boat Units in the Navy, only
Special Boat Unit (now Special Boat Team) TWENTY-TWO,
continues 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.
From
March 1988 until it was disestablished on September 5,
1997, Special Boat Unit ELEVEN reported operationally to
the U.S. Special Operations Command and its naval
component: Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command.
Special Boat Unit ELEVEN was a subordinate unit of
Commander, Special Boat Squadron ONE. In addition,
Special Boat Unit ELEVEN reported administratively to
Naval Reserve Readiness Command Region TWENTY-TWO and
Commander Naval Surface Reserve Force for reserve
matters. At its zenith, 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. In line
with the "ONE NAVY CONCEPT," these active and reserve
sailors trained, operated and deployed together.
Primarily responsible for the Pacific and Southwest
Asian operational theaters, Special Boat Unit ELEVEN
routinely conducted advanced training deployments to
Thailand and also conducted the first Navy-to-Navy
training in the Kingdom of Cambodia in over twenty-two
years. In support of its active duty counterpart,
SBU-22, SBU-XI personnel deployed to South America on
Mobile Training Team (MTT) and Counter-Narcotics
missions (CNT), including the first ever SELRES MTT to
Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela in 1991, establishing that
SELRES could plan and conduct Special Operations
Missions in a riverine environment in support of theater
commanders.
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 (IRCO). 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 "Brown
Water Navy" lives on with its active duty sister unit,
Special Boat Team TWENTY-TWO, now located at the Stennis
Space Center, Mississippi, and in the establishment of
Naval Reserve Special Boat Team/Training and Operations,
Detachment Sacramento (NRSBT/T&O-SAC). Under the Naval
Special Warfare reorganization of NSW-21, NRSBT/T&O-SAC
has combined with Naval Reserve Special Warfare Unit One
and both units are located in the NSW compound at the
Navy Operational Support Center, Sacramento.
Added
05-22-08
Back in '80 - '81, SBUXI sent guys
to 26 to relieve their boat guys so they could go
home and see mama. SBU-26 was doing round-the-clock
anti-drug picket duty on Swift Boats, over on the
Colon side as well as the Rodman side.
We went down for 30 - 45 days at a
time (SPECAC and ADT SPEC because it was beyond 17
days) and there were also non boat guys from other
Res Dets who had needed skills like ENs and GMs.
That was a fairly short-term deal as the pickets
were canc'd. After that, we continued to augment
SCIATTS until they shut down Rodman and SCIATTS
moved to Stennis, MS. I did one SBT-22 deployment,
2 to SCIATTS, and one to NSWU-10. We did NOT take
any boats as 26 had a bunch of each type of craft at
Rodman. I got my Panama Canal Pilot's License while
there. I received a plaque from each unit for my
work there.
The down-side to the first
deployment was that a lot of the "OLD" chief/s-chief
types from SBUXI grabbed the slots and they didn't
do a damned thing down there except drink and swap
lies, which left a bad impression with the CO of 26,
who's name escapes me. The rest of us partied hard
but we worked our asses off. I was a GMT-2 then.
I had a girl friend on each side.
One day the girl from P-City came to Rodman to pick
me up and the gate guard at the back gate called me
at the Transient Barracks to tell me to come get her
before she caused a traffic accident. She was VERY
hot!!!!!!!!!
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