Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday to look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday, March 13, 2024: SEAL Time Capsule
Sorry about the short WW this week. I’m currently in the midst of a 17-day work trip to Europe visiting iconic old-world gunmakers for factory tours. We’ll be back to our regular format next week!
330-PSA-61-63 (USN 1066434)
Official caption for the above photograph, released 61 years ago today, 13 March 1963
U.S. Navy frogmen have the capability of being air-dropped into coastal waters, fully equipped to perform any of their various missions. After landing in the water, they abandon their parachutes, take to the underwater environment, and upon completion of their tasks are picked up by anyone of a variety of methods including aerial, high-speed surface, or submarine retrieval.
The first two U.S. Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams, commonly known as SEALs, were stood up under orders from JFK– himself a WWII Navy man– in January 1962, with one based on the West Coast at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California, and another on the East Coast at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia. Drawn from the Navy’s preexisting underwater demolition teams dating back to WWII, the plankowners of SEAL Team ONE and TWO only numbered 60 frogmen each.
While they would soon face their first test in Vietnam, they got to show off for the cameras in the Virgin Islands in March 1963 for this set of interesting photos showing off a lot of classic gear including what look to be Sportsways Hydro Twin regulators long before Draeger units were a thing, round facemasks, and slab-sided early XM16s complete with waffle mags.
The sub used in the exercise was the old USS Sealion (APSS-315), which earned five battle stars during World War II and then spent almost the entire period from 1954 to 1967 in a series of such exercises with Marines, Underwater Demolition Teams, SEALs, Beachjumper units; and, on occasion, Army units ranging from the Virginia coasts to the Caribbean.
U.S. Navy Frogmen on training exercises at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, leave the submerged submarine USS Sealion through the forward escape trunk carrying their demolition equipment, proceed to the beach as the spearhead forces of an amphibious assault, and after their mission is accomplished, rendezvous with the submarine and reenter through the escape trunk. 330-PSA-61-63 (USN 1066438)
U.S. Navy Frogmen on training exercises at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, leave the submerged submarine USS Sealion through the forward escape trunk carrying their demolition equipment, proceed to the beach as the spearhead forces of an amphibious assault, and after their mission is accomplished, rendezvous with the submarine and reenter through the escape trunk. 330-PSA-61-63 (USN 1066431)
“US Navy SEAL holding a rifle near a shack, during a military demonstration at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands,” by Marion S Trikosko. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection (Library of Congress). LC-U9-9190- 21
“US Navy SEALs wearing and holding aquatic equipment during a demonstration at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands” by Marion S Trikosko. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection (Library of Congress). LC-U9-9194- 29
“US Navy SEALs training on a boat and rubber raft at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands,” by Marion S Trikosko. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection (Library of Congress). LC-U9-9194- 29
Catch you guys next week!
Ships are more than steel
and wood
And the heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
they know
That some ships have a
soul.
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