Marines to Put More Muscle in the Water

2007-11-06T10:23:00+00:00

The South African Navy has embarked on a project to create a partial equivalent of the Royal Marines' Special Boat Service with which to patrol Africa's rivers and coastlines in support of peace-keepers and in pursuit of rebels, terrorists and pirates. The project, code-named Xena, is expected to field an Operational Boat Squadron (OBS) consisting of 16 lightly armed patrol boats, according to Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg, the Navy's chief director of maritime strategy.

A report on Xena by defence analyst Leon Engelbrecht said each unit of about five (more likely four) OBS boats would be supported by 'a mobile shore facility, including accommodation and a containerised headquarters fitted with advanced command-and-control equipment'. Each boat is expected to be just over 10m long, skippered by a naval petty officer, plus a coxswain and two gunners, one operating a fore-mounted .50 calibre machine-gun and one a 7.62mm calibre light machine-gun at the stern. Teuteberg said the new OBS would form part of the Navy's Maritime Reaction Squadron, formed two years ago. The squadron consists of two other parts: an Operational Diving Team; and a Reaction Force of naval women and men, partly equivalent to the Royal Marines, who will be transported six to a boat.

Teuteberg said the difference between the new South African system and the British was that the Royal Marines were 'proper marines who go ashore and secure beach-heads', whereas in South Africa, that function will be performed by conventional Navy-transported infantry: Cape Town's 9 SA Infantry Battalion in either its new 'sea-landing' or rapid-response roles, backed up by the reserve Cape Town Highlanders. And whereas the Royal Marines' autonomous Special Boat Service is in fact a covert, special forces outfit, designed to secure harbours and so forth, that role in South Africa is performed by 4 Reconnaissance Regiment at Langebaan which reports directly to the Chief of Joint Operations.

The South African Navy & Marine and Coastal Management: Tag OBS

Marines to Put More Muscle in the Water