The Harrowing Origins of ‘Raiders from the Deep’

By DAVID F. WINKLER

At a recent Submarine Force History Symposium titled “Raiders from the Deep,” attendees heard presentations covering the evolution of reconnaissance force insertion from World War II through the present. Particularly captivating was a talk by retired Marine Col. John Ripley. Currently the head of the Marine Corps Historical Center, Ripley discussed his early days as a member of a Marine Force Reconnaissance unit that trained to deploy clandestinely from beneath the waves.

During World War II, techniques for deploying reconnaissance or raider forces from a submarine were rather rudimentary. After a submarine surfaced off the enemy-held objective, the men chosen for the mission climbed down into inflated rubber boats that were positioned off one of the sides, or sat in boats situated on the aft deck.

In the latter case, the submarine simply ballasted down by the stern, and they floated off and paddled to their objective.

However, during the deployment and recovery phases, submarines were vulnerable to detection and attack. To maintain the submarine’s stealth, the Navy-Marine Corps team pioneered new techniques during the post-war period.

The introduction of scuba equipment in the early 1950s opened possibilities of deploying swimmers without having the submarine break the surface. The submarines Perch and Sea Lion, having been converted to serve as undersea troop carriers after World War II, would be test beds for these techniques. These diesel-electric boats, with retractable sonar gear, could rest on the bottom along a continental shelf while swimmers deployed ashore.

Deploying from the submarine’s forward escape trunk, Marine Force Reconnaissance and Navy Underwater Demolition Team divers exploited the advantages of the new scuba gear on training missions conducted in the mid-1950s. In doing so, these courageous individuals also discovered there were drawbacks. The tanks carried a limited amount of air, bubbles from exhaled air could be tracked on the surface, and the gear had to be removed and hidden once ashore.

The solution proved to be a technique called “buoyant ascents.” Used by the German Navy in World War II, the method entailed swimming quickly to the surface once the escape trunk was opened to the sea.

Another term used for the technique was “Blow and Go,” as the ascending swimmer needed to continuously exhale as he surfaced to accommodate the change of water pressure.

During the early 1960s, Ripley served with an East Coast Force Reconnaissance unit that often operated from Sea Lion. Asked how far they were expected to swim, he recalled once surfacing to see the volcanic peak of their objective barely on the horizon.

On another three-day mission, one of his fellow swimmers stepped on a stingray and had his foot impaled. Ripley removed the poisonous barb and kept it as a memento that he displayed during his symposium remarks.

Returning to the submarine also was an adventure. After swimming some distance to arrive at the approximate rendezvous point, Ripley would then begin banging his two K-Bar knives together to be detected by the sub’s sensitive sonar that then homed in on the signal.

Unfortunately, Ripley noted that undersea mammals, thinking they were hearing a mating call, would also aim for the source of the sound — which created some awkwardness for the swimmers.

Having returned to the submarine after an exhausting covert mission, Ripley and his fellow Marines could always count on the silent service to have a fabulous steak dinner waiting.

Ripley spoke glowingly of the respect he had for Navy submariners who risked their boats in a dangerous shallow water environment. This professionalism continues to this day as many of the techniques pioneered by the Navy-Marine Corps team of the 1950s and 1960s paved the way for modern-day operations off U.S. Navy submarines by Naval Special Warfare forces.

Sources: Bruce F. Meyers, Fortune Favors the Brave, Naval Institute Press, 2000; and Retired Marine Col. John Ripley, from comments at the Fourth Annual Submarine Force History Symposium in Washington, D.C.

Dr. David F. Winkler is a historian with the Naval Historical Foundation.