History
The Special Boat Service was the brain-child of an East African big-game hunter called Roger Courtney who had spent much of the 1930s canoeing from Lake Victoria down the Nile and into Egypt. He came to England at the outbreak of World War II determined to persuade the Royal Navy to use the flimsy, wood framed canoes. Although the Royal Navy dismissed his idea, he was determined to prove that using the canoe can allow a small force to infiltrate silently and plant explosives on ships.
The challenge they set was for him to paddle out to HMS Glengyle and plant a limpet mine on its hull. Courtney was able to infiltrate the ship without being seen in his canoe and plant the limpet mine. This demonstration impressed the Royal Navy and heralded the beginning of the Special Boat Service.
The Special Boat Section was formed from the Folbot Troop of HQ Layforce in the Middle East and was sometimes known as '1 SBS'. In 1942, the personnel were subsumed within 1 Special Air Service Regiment and formed part of 'D' Squadron, subsequently retitled the "Special Boat Squadron"; as such they adopted the cap badge and tan beret of the SAS. A second Special Boat Section was raised in 1943 in the United Kingdom for service with the Special Service Brigade (subsequently re-titled Commando Brigade) as '2 SBS'. As a British Commando formation, personnel of 2 SBS wore the Commando Green beret. The Special Boat Squadron of 1 SAS became an independently operating squadron and was subsequently expanded to regimental status as the Special Boat Service continuing to wear their parent regiment cap badge and beret.
In 1946, the SBS, whether of Commando or SAS parentage, were disbanded. The functional title SBS was adopted by the Royal Marines. It became part of the School of Combined Operations under the command of "Blondie" Hasler. Their first missions were in Palestine (ordnance removal) and in Haifa (limpet mine removal from ships). In 1977, the SBS changed its name to Special Boat Squadron and in 1987, renamed Special Boat Service, it became part of the British Special Forces group alongside the Special Air Service and 14 Intelligence Company. In March 2005, the commanding officer of the SBS, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Van Der Horst, was killed in a training accident in Norway.
Role and capabilities
The roles of the Special Boat Service are predominantly focused on, but not restricted to, littoral and riverine operations. Activities include:
Reconnaissance and Surveillance
Covert beach reconnaissance (hydrographic survey) in advance of an amphibious assault
Recovery or protection of ships and oil platforms subject to hostile state or non-state (terrorist) action.
Maritime Counter-Terrorism (MCT)
Support to British police forces and customs
Offensive Action
Elements from the British Special Boat Service has been part of Task Force Black working alongside their SAS counterparts as part of Task Force 145 currently designated as Task Force 88.
Organisation
The Ministry of Defence does not comment on special forces matters, therefore little verifiable information exists in the public domain. Memoirs suggest an organisation split into four operational squadrons and a training wing, with a range of supporting personnel drawn from the Royal Marines, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and the British Army.[citation needed]
The SBS is under the Operational Command of Director Special Forces, which allocates resources to the Permanent Joint Headquarters, deployed forces or other tasks as required.[citation needed] Qualified personnel are known as "Swimmer Canoeists" and are employed in one of the operational squadrons, training wing or elsewhere in the RM, RN, DSF or MOD.[citation needed]
C Squadron - Rotates along with X Squadron through three specialist roles. C Squadron are specialists in canoe and small boat operations. Utilizing 2-men Klepper canoes and rigid-hulled inflatable boats for stealth insertion and extraction, the SBS carry out reconnaissance and sabotage missions along coastlines, river networks and up to 40 miles (64 km) inland.
X Squadron A joint Army SAS and Naval SBS unit made up of proven operators tasked fighting terrorism. It is known as X Squadron and is led by a highly-decorated SBS officer and an SAS captain. The group, based at Poole, Dorset, are on 24-hour worldwide alert. Rotates along with C Squadron through three specialist roles.
M Squadron - The Maritime Counter-Terrorism and shipboard operations unit.
Within M-Squadron is the Black Group, a counter-terrorism team that uses helicopter-borne assaults. They work closely with the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
S or Z Squadron Specialises in small watercraft and minisub (Swimmer Delivery Vehicle) SDV insertions. The divers of S squadron specialise in underwater attack using mini-submarines and swimmer delivery vehicles. During a war, the SBS will sneak into enemy harbours and attach limpet mines to ship's hulls
Selection & Training Wing Along with the British SAS conducts joint selection and training.
Personnel have previously been required to return to the main Commando force after the first three-year tour, potentially returning again after a short period, however this requirement has now ceased.[citation needed]
The special forces element of 3 Commando Brigade is usually provided by the SBS, tasked from the Directorate of Special Forces.[citation needed]
The SBS Reserve (SBS(R)), provides individual reservists to serve with the regular SBS rather than forming independent teams.[citation needed]
Recruitment, selection and training
Main article: United Kingdom Special Forces Selection
Unofficial 'subdued' version of SBS Wings
An SBS team linking up with a submarine during an exercise
Historically SBS selection was only open to members of the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy but with the re-brigading of UKSF force elements this has been opened to members of all three Armed Forces. Candidates must have have served a minimum of one year as a general duties marine and have three years left to serve.
Until recently, the SBS had its own independent selection program in order to qualify as a Swimmer Canoeist but has now been integrated its selection program into a joint UK Special Forces Selection alongside candidates for the Special Air Service and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.
Qualification as an SBS Swimmer Canoeist involves an extensive training course, building on the skills gained during SF Selection at Hereford. Training includes:
8-week boating and diving course Diving including underwater navigation using closed and open circuit breathing apparatus and underwater demolition, negotiating surf zones and navigating a 55 km (34 mi) course in a Klepper canoe, and infiltration via submarine known as - "locking in/locking out".
Parachuting - Including static line and High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) and High Altitude High Opening (HAHO) freefall jumps often at night with their boats/Klepper canoes into the sea.
Land and underwater demolition
Infiltration of ships, in harbour and whilst under way, and oil platforms
Canoeing - Use of the Klepper canoe during selection is extensive
Further survival training in the wilds of Scotland
Beach reconnaissance including photography
Maritime Counter-Terrorism activities
Those who pass the selection course qualify as a Swimmer Canoeist (SC3) and are then probationers, advancement to Corporal and Sergeant are predicated on qualification as an SC2 and SC1 respectively. Advancement to Sergeant also requires completion of the Senior Command Course at Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, mandatory for all Royal Marines at this stage. Continuation and professional training will continue throughout the individuals career. They may go through further training in combat medicine, communications, counter-terrorist operations, foreign languages, SDV "driving" and many other skills.
On qualification Marines of the SBS wear the branch badge on the left cuff of lovat green and blue uniform jackets, the letters SC over a wreath, Officers wear no branch designators. On qualification as an advanced parachutist, personnel are awarded the SBS variant of special forces parachute wings, worn on the shoulder of the right sleeve. Marines continue to wear the commandos green beret.
For SBS Reserve (SBS(R)) selection, candidates must have previous military experience or before passing the three main elements (Hills Phase @ 4 km/h / Ex Atap Hurdle / SERE) of regular UKSF selection and gaining the specialist qualification of swimmer canoeist.
Operational deployments
The first SBS took place were in Palestine (ordnance removal) and in Haifa (limpet mine removal from ships). During the Korean War (1950-1953), the SBS were in action along the North Korean coast. They gathered intelligence and destroyed railways and installations. The SBS operated first from submarines, and later from islands off Wonsan, behind enemy lines. They used two-man canoes and motorised inflatable boats.
Duriing 1952, SBS teams were held at combat readiness in Egypt in case Gamal Abdel Nasser's coup turned more violent than it did. The SBS were also alerted during the Suez Crisis of 1956 and coup against king Idris I of Libya (1959), but in both cases they did not see action.
During 1961, SBS teams carried out reconnaissance missions during the Indonesian Confrontation and gathered intelligence and trained other special forces during the Vietnam War.[citation needed]. In the same year, Iraq threatened to invade Kuwait for the first time, and the SBS put a detachment at Bahrain.
1972: The SAS and SBS came into the spotlight for a moment during their involvement with a bomb threat (which later proved to be a hoax) onboard the Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth II, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
1979: 5 SBS became part of the Comacchio Company, which protected North Sea oil rigs.
1982 March-June: In the Falklands War, 2 SBS took part in the liberation of South Georgia and 6 SBS reconnoitered in East Falkland. Their only losses were to friendly fire from the SAS.
1991: During the Gulf War, the SBS made raids on the Kuwaiti coast to draw Iraqi troops away from the land attack. The liberation of the British embassy in Kuwait was one of their most high-profile operations.
September 1999: The SBS were involved in operations in East Timor. A small SBS team landed and drove out the back of a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft in Land Rover Defenders with mounted machine guns at Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili.
2001, November: The SBS had an extensive role in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. After the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan became the primary area of responsibility of the SBS and the SAS concentrated on Iraq. The SBS were used in vital phases of the invasion of Afghanistan. A small SBS contingent secured Bagram Airbase prior to the deployment of larger forces that would become the main staging area for allied forces during Operation Enduring Freedom. Members of the Special Boat Service helped quell an Afghan prison revolt during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi near Mazar-i-Sharif, in November 2001. During the revolt, a CIA officer, Mike Spann, from the secretive Special Activities Division, was the first American killed in the Global War on Terror and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Late 2001: After British Intelligence services became concerned over a cargo ship approaching the English coast. A tip off was received that the ship, the MV Nisha, may have be carrying 'terrorist material' along with its stated cargo of sugar. This, combined with the fact that the freighter's route from Mauritius was preceded by a stop at Djibouti, close to suspected Al-Qaeda havens of Somalia and Yemen, caused an unprecedented security operation to be launched. Members of the SBS boarded the intercepted vessel. After being boarded, the vessel was searched but nothing suspicious was found.
2003: The SBS took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This may have included securing the various dams and oil platforms to prevent sabotage by Iraqi forces. Corporal Ian Plank was killed when his patrol was engaged by Iraqi insurgent during a house to house search for a wanted high ranking militia leader.
2006, 27 June: Captain David Patten PARA and Sergeant Paul Bartlett, Royal Marines, were killed and another serviceman seriously injured in a Taliban ambush in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. It was reported by some sources that the ambushed vehicle was part of an SBS patrol and further sources reported that it was a special forces patrol.
2007, 12 May: A joint British Special Boat Service (SBS) and Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) team killed Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah in Helmand province after a raid on a compound where his associates were meeting.
2008 - British SBS were involved in the rescue and recovery in Afghanistan of two Italians thought to be members of the SISMI (Italian Military Intelligence and Security Service). However, one hostage was killed (Corporal Lorenzo D'Auria) and the other two injured although not seriously during the operation[citation needed].
2009 - The Special Boat Service were part of an assault element that was tasked in destroying an IED bomb factory located in an old hill fort in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Around 500 of the home-made devices and killed 21 insurgents in an attack on a Taliban bomb factory in an old hill fort.
9 September 2009 A Joint UK Special Forces element were tasked to extricate former New York Times news journalist Stephen Farrell and his interpreter Sultan Munadi who had been taken hostage by Taliban Militia and being held in a house in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. Farrell was successfully rescued but his interpreter Sultan Munadi and a member from the Special Forces Support Group Corporal John Harrison were killed during the operation.
See also
British Commandos
United States Navy SEALs
Royal Australian Navy Clearance Diving Team
United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance
Notes and references
^ "Col Richard Pickup - Obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 11 May 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/special-forces-obituaries/5309727/Col-Richard-Pickup.html. "In the two years he commanded the SBS, Pickup relentlessly advanced its role as the Royal Navy's major contribution to UK Special Forces. He installed renewed ambition and sense of purpose in the SBS, obtaining for it an official cap badge, with a dagger on two undulating blue lines, in place of its unofficial emblem of frog, paddles and parachute."
^ a b The motto was originally "Not by strength by guile", and is sometimes still reported as that. However the most reliable sources show that Not by strength by guile was changed to By strength and guile at the same time as the name changed from Special Boat Squadron to Special Boat Service. See .
^ Ripley, Tim (25 February 2009). "Special Effects: UK SF unit comes into its own". Janes Defence Weekly 46 (8): 24.
^ "Career Specialisations". Royal Marines. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/royalmarines/careers/career-specialisations/#f9. "Swimmer Canoeists are members of the Special Boat Service the Royal Marines equivalent of the Army Special Air Service. To join this specialisation, you will have to pass the UK Special Forces Selection Course. You will then be trained to the highest standards in surveillance, reconnaissance, parachuting and survival skills."
^ "Lance Bombardiers Ross Clark and Liam McLaughlin killed in Afghanistan". http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/LanceBombardiersRossClarkAndLiamMclaughlinKilledInAfghanistan.htm. "148 Commando Forward Observation Battery Royal Artillery, a detached sub-unit based in Poole, Dorset"
^ Paul, James; Martin Spirit (2000). "The Special Boat Service" (Web). Britain's Small Wars Site Index. http://www.britains-smallwars.com/main/SBS.htm.
^ Sky News, SBS Chief Killed on Exercise in Norway. Retrieved 5 October 2006.
^ "Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines History". Royal Marines. http://www.royalmarines.mod.uk/server/show/nav.6699. "Following a study into the centralisation of the Royal Marines Maritime Counter Terrorist (MCT) forces, approval was given for elements of Comacchio Group Royal Marines to move from Royal Marines Condor to Royal Marines Poole and form part of the Special Boat Squadron (SBS); sub units of the SBS were called squadrons and existing SB sections were called troops. M Squadron was formed and was responsible for the MCT tasks formerly carried out by O Company of Comacchio Group Royal Marines. From this date onwards, Comacchio Group ceased to have any MCT responsibility but retained its main task of safe-guarding Britain's nuclear deterrent."
^ "The ill-starred attempt to smash a cannabis trafficking ring". The Daily Telegraph. 5 February 1999. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1999/02/05/ncus103.html. "THE surprise for the Marines of the Special Boat Squadron who boarded the Simon de Danser at night in the Atlantic was discovering present and former colleagues among the crew of a ship carrying drugs."
^ Lewis, Daminen. Bloody Heros. ISBN 1844138682.
^ "Bloody Heroes". http://www.damienlewis.com/damien-lewis-bloody-heroes.php.
^ "How do you join the SBS (Special Boat Service)? - Royal Navy - Royal Marines - Careers Website". http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/royalmarines/careers/your-questions-answered/ask-us/search-results/how-do-you-join-the-sbs/*/changeNav/7137. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
^ "Special Special Boat Service (Reserve) - British Army Website". http://www.army.mod.uk/specialforces/10558.aspx. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
^ "British troops start work in East Timor". BBC News. 1999-09-20. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/452208.stm.
^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1418557/US-honours-Briton-in-Afghan-raid.html
^ Captain David Patten And Sergeant Paul Bartlett Killed In Afghanistan On 27 June 2006.
^ Killed NI soldier 'was due home' On the trail of Taliban: As two SBS soldiers die in Afghanistan, we visit British troops charged with keeping the peace ... and fighting a resolute enemy.
^ BBC News, Long haul fight to defeat the Taliban http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6237290.stm
Coordinates: 5043.1 201.22 / 50.7183N 2.02033W / 50.7183; -2.02033 (Hamworthy Barracks)
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