The USS Anchorage (LPD-23) stayed a mile offshore while the roughly a dozen amphibious assault
vehicles swam approached the shore with their shuttered hatches creating long-slung silhouettes
in the Pacific.
As the ACVs moved onto the California sands, two Navy safety boats from the amphibious
transport dock ship trailed in the light seas.
The Marine Corps ACV program reached a new milestone with last weekend's beach landing,
which also served as preparation for the program's initial deployment later this year by the
first operating platoon.
ACV tow-hitch issues and the fatal 2020 amphibious assault vehicle sinking during shore-to-ship
training off the California coast caused a pause in shipboard operations, followed by
the integrated Navy-Marine Corps training day and night, full-mission profile missions
launching and recovering vehicles from Anchorage and the beach.
This will be a historical deployment.
The Marine Corps relies on the ACV to outperform the AAV from the 1970s regarding capability,
lethality, and survivability.
The new vehicles are essential to the service's ability to conduct amphibious operations,
particularly in island-hopping campaigns and other processes in coastal environments.
Besides having wheels instead of tracks, the variations between the vehicles will impact
how Marines operate the vehicles and how commanders use them on land and at sea.
These differences are primarily due to more advanced communications, command-and-control
systems, and a remote armament system.
The Marines' section-level preparation for their first maritime battle with Anchorage
in February served as the foundation for the four-day, platoon-level training exercise.
"We're working through many things," said 1st Lt. Turner Brown, 1st Platoon Commander
with Charlie Company, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, as he took a break in his command
vehicle on the beach.
"For example, who decides who is going to splash us?
Do I submit that I want to splash here, or do they tell me I'm going to splash you here?"
We are undoubtedly still on the walking stage.
We aren't yet moving.
Brown emphasized that bonding with the ship's company, which included essential members
such as the captain, first lieutenant, and deck department, came from time spent together
at sea as well as from several days spent performing "dry runs" of ACVs aboard Anchorage
while docked at Naval Base San Diego, California.
Sergeants and staff sergeants with extensive expertise operating tracked amphibious assault
vehicles (ACVs and AAVs), which will be retired when the Marine Corps fully transitions to
the new, eight-wheeled combat vehicle later this decade, serve as his section leaders.
Since the battalion has operated on the water for around 53 days, he claimed, "we are highly
skilled in the water."
According to officials, the ACV platoon, a part of the 1st Marine Division and stationed
at Camp Pendleton, was the first to receive certification to the Marine Corps training
and readiness criteria.
They'll go back to sea with Anchorage the following month and start pre-deployment training
as part of Battalion Landing Team 2/4, which is made up of the 2nd Battalion, and 4th Marines
and serves as the ground combat component of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Capt.
Pete Riebe, the commander of Anchorage, a unit of the Expeditionary Strike Group 3 located
in San Diego, stated, "After every evolution, I've been capturing lessons learned."
New capabilities and perhaps some new constraints come with the new vehicle.
Riebe told USNI News over the phone last week: "We consider ourselves as being on the cutting
edge of the new vehicle implementation, and we want to make sure we don't pass up any
opportunity to enhance the tactics, techniques, and procedures of the blue-green team to take
it to the fight."
"Getting Marines to the battle and ensuring that we can do it properly and efficiently
is what it's all about.
So we take that role very seriously.”
The drill was the first time the ACV platoon had splashed off Anchorage during the day
and night, operated nearby as the ship cruised at sea, and then returned to the ship's well-deck.
ACV sections received training in February while the ship was at anchor for many days
of launch and recovery operations during the day.
Every step of the progression, "we're considering tactical applicability.
Who or what are we?
In a contentious situation, how are we handling it?
"Riebe declared.
How far can they swim if the ship can't get that close to the shore?
”
To make sure that we can deploy battle-ready and prepared for any action the team may see,
he stated, "we're thinking about the next level."
While at sea, Anchorage also launched and retrieved Marine combat rubber-raiding vessels
and Navy landing craft with a separate infantry unit.
Riebe continued, "There is unquestionably more interest in our return-to-water efforts.
He has briefed Rear Adm. Michael Baze, commander of ESG-3, and Maj. Gen. Roger Turner, commander
of the division, "to ensure that our training objectives are clear, that everyone is aware
of the strategy, and that everyone agrees upon the actions that we're going to carry
out at sea."
To make sure that we can deploy battle-ready and prepared for any action the team may see,
he stated, "we're thinking about the next level."
While at sea, Anchorage also launched and retrieved Marine combat rubber-raiding vessels
and Navy landing craft with a separate infantry unit.
Riebe continued, "There is unquestionably more interest in our return-to-water efforts.
He has briefed Rear Adm. Michael Baze, commander of ESG-3, and Maj. Gen. Roger Turner, commander
of the division, "to ensure that our training objectives are clear, that everyone is aware
of the strategy, and that everyone agrees upon the actions that we're going to carry
out at sea."
By this summer, the 1st Marine Division hopes to have 100 ACVs; by the end of the year,
two of its three AAV companies will have switched to the new vehicle.
As we strive to integrate this new platform, we've been taking a crawl-walk-run approach,
Turner added.
The removal of waterborne restrictions coincided with Anchorage's opening, giving the first
platoon crucial preparation time before it departed for the MEU and started that frantic
workup phase.
We're simply trying to get as many reps and sets as we can whenever we can get a ship
off the shore here, he said.
The ACV Platoon's waterborne training with Anchorage may have occurred later in the workup
cycle.
Still, Col. Philip Laing, the assistant division commander, might have taken time away from
MEU-level training.
They are pioneering and establishing the foundation for exercises and training progressions based
on what is right, according to Laing.
"Every day, we're learning.
How do we integrate with the Navy?
What kind of training is necessary?
What is the sequence?
What supplies are required?
How should an ACV platoon be trained, trained, and equipped to support a battalion landing
team?
New Safety Measures
Significant issues and errors were discovered at practically every level of command during
that disastrous shore-to-ship training exercise, according to three different reviews into
the 2020 sinking that claimed the lives of eight Marines and one sailor.
As a result of the suspension of waterborne shipboard operations and the relatively few
integrated exercises or processes that involve Marines and amphibious ships—aside from
Marine expeditionary units that deployed with Navy amphibious ready groups—they also drew
attention to issues resulting from Marines' and sailors' lack of experience with shipboard
amphibious operations.
Since 2020, the Marine Corps and the Navy have updated their training standards, safety
procedures, emergency egress protocols, and many other policies previously regarded as
"best practices" but were administered inconsistently.
Many of these were implemented during the February and March exercises with Anchorage,
which was able to conduct the ACV training before the ship began its pre-deployment training
program in preparation for its ARG/MEU deployment last year after wrapping up a shipyard maintenance
break.
"We have researched the catastrophe extremely extensively and understand how and where things
broke down," Riebe claimed he and his leaders had done.
Now there are several significant modifications.
As the ship's captain, Riebe decides to launch the ACVs and gives the go-ahead for their
return from shore to Anchorage by defined Navy and Marine Corps procedures.
It's pretty evident, he declared.
"Before starting a swim out to the ship, they must first obtain my approval to launch from
the shore.
Those criteria have never been doubted, and the team has followed them without issue.
Two of his safety boats were launched in front of the ACVs and remained at sea while submerged,
which wasn't done in the 2020 accident.
According to Riebe, the safety boats' communications capabilities have been improved so they can
continue to communicate with the ACVs on their tactical radios.
"I deployed safety boats from the ship to support the ACVs while they are swimming,"
he said.
The boat crews, which have radios to monitor and communicate on Boat Alpha and Boat Bravo,
also include at least one search-and-rescue swimmer who can act quickly if a vehicle problem
arises.
The sailors and marines discussed the safety precautions and emergency signals.
The whole operation, said Riebe, is “controlled.
I typically spend the evolution on the ship's bridge, where we closely monitor every detail
and ensure we are aware of the status of the craft and that our safety boats are present.
The third section leader of the 1st Platoon, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Vickers has worked with
amphibious tractors throughout his entire ten-year career.
He has operated AAVs and subsequently the ACV with the Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch
at Camp Pendleton, deployed to Japan with the 11th MEU, and served on ships.
Vickers said that the platoon had engaged in seven cycles of water training at Camp
Pendleton's boat basin before engaging in shore-to-shore operations along the beach
and finally, at-sea, integrated processes with Anchorage.
"I believe that right now, the baseline between our Marines and their well-deck staff is pretty
strong.
Everyone is aware of what needs to be done, which has allowed us to carry it out smoothly,
" he said.
He said, "The more repetitions we have, the better they will be."
Vickers claimed that he and his section, which included five ACVs, collaborated "hand in
hand" with the boat's well-deck crew and boatswain's mate, going over procedures and doing mission-specific
debriefs.
He said the more time we spend with these folks, the more seamless, it will be, adding
that "I anticipate all the future operations with the Anchorage are going to be smoother."
At-sea Familiarity
Compared to the typical integrated, at-sea workups performed during the pre-deployment
training phase, the at-sea training gave Anchorage and the ACV platoon more time to become familiar
with one another's capabilities, work through the training plan more closely, and even sort
through differences in lingo and procedures like maneuvering the ACVs through the ship's
ramps and stowage decks.
Compared to AAVs, ACVs are broader and heavier.
Lt. Danny Muniz, the ship's first lieutenant, stated that it had been fantastic to watch
the sailors and Marines combine and work together as a single unit.
He added that the at-sea training had given "extra reps and set enhancing our well-deck
team's proficiency."
Days before the at-sea training, Brown reviewed protocols and no-go criteria with the ship's
captain at a pre-sail briefing.
He also studied projected surf conditions and noted potential timeline delays caused
by weather or conditions.
Then, during drills, Marines, and sailors worked through communication protocols, "such
what emergency signals do we utilize," he said, including scenarios of an ACV losing
generator power.
They figured out how to transmit the fallen vehicle's location so the ship's crew could
correctly identify which ACV it was in the sea during an after-action debrief.
He continued, "playing out potential emergency scenarios prepares us to work together in
the future."
Brown reviewed the proposed operation with the captain, the ship's bosun, the deck department,
and the people from the battle information center the day before the morning launch from
Anchorage.
The Marines and sailors have worked hard to memorize the changes and "ensure everyone's
on the same page when it comes to operating the ACVs and communications with vehicles
and ships" as both services have revised ACV standard operating procedures and manuals
on well-deck operations and amphibious operations.
Together, we're learning a lot, added Brown.
Whether on land or at sea, he kept in touch with Anchorage.
The ship has been great about getting in touch with me and being on comm when they say they
will, he said.
So they will still be able to hear me even if they are 12 nautical miles away.
We'll communicate with one another as soon as possible, and we'll pass along all of my
people counts, the state of my vehicles, and information about the adjusted surf index
at the beach that permits us to splash.
Integrating with Infantry
In a few weeks, the ACV platoon will integrate and start conducting ship-to-shore and waterborne
operations with Infantry Marines from Golf Company, 2/4 aboard.
The Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation for the ACV personnel had already been completed.
Still, Brown claimed that dire sea state circumstances led him to cancel the amphibious evaluation
element, which will occur sometime during the MEU workups.
The vehicle commander, driver, and gunner crews for each ACV are three Marines.
Infantry units that are embarked won't only be seated at the back.
One infantry Marine will serve as the "rear egress operator," a new position in an ACV,
in place of the rear crewman as in the AAV.
The Marines will be "looking at the water trigger lines," using Brown's performance
evaluation checklists as a guide.
He said they let us know what's going on in the back and assist people in getting out
of the car in an emergency.
They need to know various vehicle functions and how to guide others through evacuation
training.
According to Brown, every troop commander will be knowledgeable about the ACV's remote
weapons system, cameras, and communications tools that offer superior situational awareness
to the AAV.
This will enable them to "look through the screens and see what our weapons are looking
at, see where our vehicle is pointing at, as well as know how to communicate via the
radios and how to egress and lead egress, as well."
Brown stated that his main objective for the next training is for the infantry to feel
more at ease after witnessing what we are doing.
"We are educated.
I have complete faith in my crews, sections, and platoon to do what we've done.
The infantry's recognition of our competence and observation of our ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship
communication and navigational skills will be where we make our money.
Vickers claimed that the increased situational awareness when riding on ACVs that "enable
real-time updates" while still in the sea during a mission would make the infantry platoons
more capable.
We're going to get better the more we collaborate, he remarked.
"They could hear the radios in the back and what other cars are doing" and "see what the
gun sees, what the driver sees, what the vehicle commander sees."