SOC-6 Special Operations Craft-6

SOC-6 was often referred to as a High Speed Assault Craft. Built by United States Marine, Inc. and delivered to Naval Special Warfare in 1990 as the sixth of the forty-two-foot Special Operations Craft then in use, it was manned by a crew of three and could carry 12 passengers. It had two racing outdrives and two 550 horsepower gasoline engines designed specifically for this craft, enabling it to operate effectively in extremely adverse sea conditions in support of Naval Special Warfare missions. A veteran of Operation Desert Storm, SOC-6 conducted missions into Kuwait from a forward operating base in Saudi Arabia for more than a month. On February 25, 1991, elements of Special Warfare Group One used SOC-6 and three other Special Operations Craft in 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 cover of darkness to conduct a direct action raid against an Iraqi base on the Kuwaiti coast. The raid was part of a coordinated attack that also included an ARC Light Strike by B52 bombers and a cruise missile attack from the battleships Wisconsin and Missouri. By simulating the start of a major amphibious landing by U.S. forces, the raid directly caused the Iraqi army to shift an entire division from its southern flank to its eastern flank, leaving fewer enemy forces to oppose the U.S. First Marine Division attacking from the south. After the Gulf War, the boat was decommissioned and sent to Patuxent River Naval Air Station for use as a test platform, and it was ultimately destroyed. In 2000, a retired SEAL who had been a member of the boat's original crew and a veteran of the deception operation found it in complete disrepair. Retired SEALs and members of the CARDEROCK Combatant Craft Division helped get the boat reactivated and assigned to the Naval Historical Center and eventually to the museum. The president of United States Marine Incorporated fully funded its restoration and shipment to honor the late Tom Dreyfus, founder of USMI.

Florida · United States