Two U.S. Navy "NSW RIB"s ("Naval Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boats") cruising down the Neuse River, about three miles across from Oriental's Lou-Mac Park.
According to the U.S. Navy (see NSW RIB page at NavySeals.com):
"The 11-Meter Naval Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boat (11M NSW RIB) is a high speed, high buoyancy, extreme weather craft with the primary mission of insertion and extraction of SEAL and other Special Operations personnel from enemy occupied beaches. The RIB hull is made of glass reinforced plastic. The 11-Meter RIB has demonstrated the ability to operate in light-loaded conditions in Sea State 6 and winds of 45 knots..."These boats carry a crew of three, plus up to an eight person SEAL team, at upwards of 45 knots. Looked like they were cruising at 40 plus knots when I took this picture. They are powered by two 470 HP Caterpillar 3126 diesel engines.
The boats feature a radar mast (the tallest structure sticking up from the boats), plus fore and aft weapons mounts, each capable of holding .50 cal., M60 or MK19 grenade launcher. I'm guessing that is either an M60 or a .50 cal. mounted forward on these two.
Periodically, Navy personnel stay in a hotel here in Oriental while they undergo training or exercises on these boats, and I have spoken with some of them at some of Oriental's watering holes in the past ... apparently, the training and exercises launch from the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Hobucken, NC (on the Intra-Coastal Waterway at Jones Bay, just north of the mouth of the Neuse River) and go shooting targets at the "BT-11 Multipurpose Electronic Target Complex" on Piney Island (on the south side of the mouth of the Neuse ... for more about BT-11, see my prior post of July 28 .)
Since Hobucken has no hotel (or watering holes) the NSW RIB crews generally stay here in Oriental during exercises, though the boats do not.
For more about the NSW RIB, check out the following links:
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