SOC-6 Special Operations Craft-6

SOC-6 Special Operations Craft-6. National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum. , This boat is often referred to as a HSAC [High Speed Assault Craft]. It was built by United States Marine, Inc. [USMI] and delivered to Naval Special Warfare in 1990 as the 6th of the 42 Foot Special Operations Craft being used at that time. It was manned by a crew of three and capable of carrying 12 passengers. It had two racing outdrives and was powered by two 550 horsepower gasoline engines designed specifically for this craft. This boat was capable of operating effectively in extremely adverse sea conditions in support of NSW missions. , , This specific boat is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. For over a month SOC-6 was used to conduct missions into Kuwait from a forward operating base in Saudi Arabia. On February 25, 1991, elements of Special Warfare Group One used a SOC-6 and three other Special Operations Craft to carry out an amphibious deception operation off the coast of Kuwait. The four-boat element assigned to Special Boat Unit 12 came within 20 yards of the beach under the cover of darkness to conduct a direct action raid against an Iraqi base on the coast of Kuwait. This was part of a coordinated attack that included an ARC Light Strike carried out by B52 bombers and a cruise missile attack from the Battleships Wisconsin and Missouri. This raid simulated the start of a major amphibious landing by US forces and had the direct impact of causing the Iraq army to shift an entire division from their southern flank to their eastern flank allowing fewer enemy forces to oppose the US First Marine Division attacking from the south. , , Sometime after the Gulf war, this boat was decommissioned and sent to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station to be used as a test platform and Ultimately destroyed. A retired SEAL and a member of the original boat crew of this boat and veteran of the amphibious deception operation mentioned above, found the boat in a state of complete disrepair in 2000. Retired SEALs and members of the CARDEROCK, Combatant Craft Division were instrumental in getting the boat reactivated and assigned to the Naval Historical Center and eventually to the Museum. The President of the United States Marine Incorporated [USMI], fully funded the restoration of this boat and the shipment to the Museum to honor the late Tom Dreyfus, founder of USMI. The Museum is extremely grateful to USMI for their tireless efforts to restore this boat and get it to the Museum.