Help Identifying military 36 foot inverted V hull

[Argonaut]

I have purchased what apears to be an EX- Military welded Aluminum Hull boat...Just over 35 feet long....It has a 12 foot beam on the hull with wings on the stern that bring the beam a little over 14 feet. It has an inverted V hull design. It may have been Jet powered at some time (cutouts in Transom Welded up) but it now has V drives......Square bow that comes off the nearly catamaran bow section and continues to the inverted V stern. The boat is open now without superstructure.......Engines mounted in extreme stern...Welded in the stern is 36UB697, I know military boats very well but have never seen anything like this.....I have photos if anyone would like to see.....The seller had been told that it was some sort of riverine craft (maby a prototype?)

[cyclops]

web search " riverine craft " USMC topic riverine boats. A 35' RAC is shown had 2 diesels / jet drives.

[D'ARTOIS]

Yes, a stormboat type, used by special forces as landing boats.....

[SCPO USN]

I think I can help you with identifying this hull, I believe I know what type of riverine craft it is but I need a little more info. Please let me know if you are still interested.

[pieter1]

I like the boat. Where can i get something like this?

[kach22i]

Cool find, what are you going to do with it?

[longliner45]

no not used by special forces,,,but the wings were probably used by divers to get back on board,probably used by marine fisherys or park and game commisions,,,but definantly not special forces,,,longliner

[SCPO USN]

Gentlemen,
This is a U.S. Navy Special Forces boat. In fact it is a Vietnam-era Medium SEAL Support Craft (MSSC). Those are not "wings" on the port and starboard side, and they were not used to help divers on or off the boat. They are sponsons that help to stabilize the craft when it was on step.

[longliner45]

special forces is army,,,,seal is navy ,,,,sf used rb15,rubber boat 7 on each side ,,one coxman

[SCPO USN]

The key issue here is not the semantics between military forces (SEAL vs SF) but the fact that this is a USN riverine boat, not a park and game commission or marine fisheries boat.

[AuxiliaryComms]

I thought 36UB would indicate 36' Utility Boat, a quick browse around suggested these were made for the Army Corps of Engineers. But it looks like the Senior Chief may have it already.

A little more searching confirms it, I think. You seem to be in posession of one of ten Medium Seal Support Craft built by Atlantic Research in the 60s and 70s http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/smallships/pnumberedsmallcraft.htm

This site is in Spanish but it has photos of MSSC further down.
http://sistemadearmas.sites.uol.com.br/nav/fluusasealb.html

If it's the right boat then that junk on the back must have been added later in life.

[webstermike1]

this is not a mssc, the boat that everybody is talking about is 36' long had an inverted v hull, 2 427 chevy engines and 2 mercruser mk 1 outdrives. when i left the river sqaudron in 1980 there was ony 3 left in coranado, ca. this is not one of them. here is a pic of the real thing

[frank smith]

Looks like a Hickman sea sled, I remember reading that some were build for the military .
Cool boat.

[webstermike1]

i think that is a utility boat, i was stationed on the MSSC1 for 3 years. it was after Vietnam, but they were a blast. that is a picture of the 1 boat during the years i ran it. i had the canopy manufacrued, and by then we were running out of parts, so we had to go down to the auto parts store and get parts to fix them. just after i left the boats were taken out of the water and scrapped. most of the parts that were taken off were destroyed. there were too may problems with getting them fixed. the wiring was aircraft and the outdrives were out dated and no more props could be found and would have to be manufactured. so i really don't think you will find one out there but you never know.

[hoytedow]

Cool pics.

[thedutchtouch]

other than the wings on the back those look like the same boat to me. look at that line on the bow. same hulls, one's been modified.

[cthippo]

Why don't you get ahold of the UDT / SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce FL and ask them. They should be able to redially confirm or disprove if it's a MSSC.

[mydauphin]

I didn't think the inverted v-hull design was this old. I wonder how its performance was compared to a comparable v-hull

[simeonlee]

The numbers on the hull match US Navy, 36ft Utility Boat 1969 hull# 7 of that year. I was able to contact NAVSEA, and get a set of drawings for a boat that i bought from DRMO years ago. Really cool boat by the way.

Simeon

[hinchliffe]

Hi. You could possibly be the only person who has access to info i would love to have. The hull is a Medium seal support craft as used during the vietnam war by the US Navy seals. Only ten of these unusual craft were built by Atlantic Research and details/info are very hard to find!

I will attach some of the pictures i have found so you can see for yourself, including a scan of the original brochure for the prototype "Seablazer", offered to Boat support unit 1

My interest in this hull is that i am trying to build a 1/6 scale radio control model. I would be gratefull for any pictures/dimensions you could send or post showing the hull from various angles, especially bow and transom, (where the 2 mercruisers would have been located)!

Try this link
www.warboats.org/stoner4.htm

Congratulations on owning a fine specimen.
Hope you dont mind my asking for help!