Special Operations Craft – Riverine
Special Operations Craft – Riverine is a boat used by the United States Navy to perform short-range insertion and extraction of special operations forces in river and near-shore environments. It replaced the Patrol Boat, River, and the mini armored troop carrier.
SOC-R transiting the Salt River in northern Kentucky during pre-deployment training
Image: US Navy 070824 N 4500G 189 A Special Operations Craft Riverine (SOC R) cruises along the Salt River during live fire training
Image: US Navy 090805 N 4205W 142 Romanian Chief of Staff Adm. Gheorge Marin and members of his staff ride in a special operations craft riverine during a visit to the Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School
Image: US Navy 070825 N 9769P 317 A Special Warfare Combatant craft crewman (SWCC) mans his GAU 17 minigun during live fire patrol training along the Salt River in northern Kentucky
Patrol Boat, Riverine, or PBR, is the United States Navy designation for a small rigid-hulled patrol boat used in the Vietnam War from March 1966 until 1975. They were deployed in a force that grew to 250 boats, the most common craft in the River Patrol Force, Task Force 116, and were used to stop and search river traffic in areas such as the Mekong Delta, the Rung Sat Special Zone, the Saigon River and in I Corps, in the area assigned to Task Force Clearwater, in an attempt to disrupt weapons shipments. In this role, they frequently became involved in firefights with enemy soldiers on boats and on the shore, were used to insert and extract Navy SEAL teams, and were employed by the United States Army's 458th Transportation Company, known as the 458th Sea Tigers.
Preserved PBR 829 in Kenner, Louisiana.
PBR Mark II