Serving at Sea Part Two: Navy Expeditionary Unit shows off hovercrafts, advanced simulators
NORFOLK, VA (WWAY) — It is Navy Week in Wilmington. On day two of our Serving at Sea series, WWAY’s Matt Bennett visits the Expeditionary Unit at Naval Station Norfolk.
The specialized group takes on missions like amphibious assaults using vehicles like the LCAC, or Landing Craft Air Cushion. The LCAC is a hovercraft that can transport marines and their equipment from the ship to the shore.
The LCAC transports Marines and their equipment from ship to shore.
(Photo: Matt Bennett/WWAY)
According to the Navy, the hovercraft takes the coastline from being 17 percent landable to 70 percent and can carry up to 100,000 pounds of equipment.
Andrew Jacobson, LCAC navigator, explained that the vehicle can hover right above the water to move an air pocket, which is about the size of a human head, on the water.
“When the seas are rough, we can go out and about, we can plan, go out at about 6.9 significant wave height,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson says each unit deploys every two to three years and the LCAC has a maximum weight of 389,984 pounds when transporting equipment like LAVs, JLTVs, and Humvees.
Extensive training is required before navigators like Jacobson are allowed to get behind the controls of such a specialized vehicle. The Navy has a full mission trainer, which Jacobson describes as an LCAC in a box.
Andrew Jacobson and the rest of the Alpha detachment pilot a Navy LCAC.
(Photo: Matt Bennett/WWAY)
“You have full screens and then you’re in a simulator for about three months, and then you start live missions,” Jacobson said. “And then you’ll take one of these (LCACs) with a one-to-one student instructor ratio.”
Nearby, the Maritime Expeditionary Security Group uses several simulators to prepare for combat. The first simulator puts crew members in a sentry boat surrounded by screens where they use modified machine guns to take out virtual threats.
The Navy says it’s this kind of advanced training that makes the Expeditionary Unit so versatile.
“It’s just a smaller, more personal approach to our real-world scenarios,” said administrative clerk Brian Sevilla. “If a new ship is pulling into a foreign port, our guys are on the front lines, making sure that this high-value asset is out there, being protected, and that we’re standing by for any real-life situations or scenarios that can pop up.”
Sailors battle virtual threats in a sentry boat simulator.
(Photo: Matt Bennett/WWAY)
The LCAC and simulation training are just two examples of the advanced technology and hands-on experience utilized by the Navy Expeditionary Unit to prepare for combat scenarios.
WWAY’s Serving at Sea series continues Wednesday on WWAY News at 6:00 with a trip to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
View other Serving at Sea stories:
Serving at Sea Part One: Life on a US Navy submarine
Serving at Sea Part Three: Boarding the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
Serving at Sea Part Four: Hometown Heroes aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
