The Loyal Legions die for their country....
Here are the names of the Marine killed and those presumed dead after Corps AAV accident
Two Marines remain hospitalized.
www.marinecorpstimes.com
I hated riding in AAV's. They're death traps with all the individual gear stacked and tangled together everyone had.
Even on land operations it sucked. I thank God I never got nailed by an IED or similar. The ensuing shitshow would have been a nightmare on earth.I never rode in one but I get the heebie jeebies looking at them wallowing in the sea with the top hatch open on their way to the beach.
I don't know how anyone inside can get out alive if one got swamped or got holed in any way.
As an old Amtracker; this is horrible, but it's not news.
My ride was the older LVTP5A1. That little step in front is for the 30cal barbette gunner to stand on.
Note that both of these pics are of models, but they are dead nutz accurate, too. The NVA could put a round through both, (aluminum) sides with a 7.62x54R. We genuinely appreciated their preference for the x39. We carried tapered wooden pegs to drive into bullet holes and prevent leaks.
We tried being smarter back in the day; we rode on top, even when fording the Dong Ha River.
I essence, we were the M113 ACAV's Bigger Brother.
Greg - 1st Tracs Cua Viet June -Nov 1967; also 11th Engr, Bn. Dong Ha Nov 1966-June 67, and TDY 12th Mar Rgt, Camp Carroll Spring Monsoon 1967.
Greg, any experience with the M114 ?As an old Amtracker; this is horrible, but it's not news.
My ride was the older LVTP5A1. That little step in front is for the 30cal barbette gunner to stand on.
Note that both of these pics are of models, but they are dead nutz accurate, too. The NVA could put a round through both, (aluminum) sides with a 7.62x54R. We genuinely appreciated their preference for the x39. We carried tapered wooden pegs to drive into bullet holes and prevent leaks.
We tried being smarter back in the day; we rode on top, even when fording the Dong Ha River.
I essence, we were the M113 ACAV's Bigger Brother.
Greg - 1st Tracs Cua Viet June -Nov 1967; also 11th Engr, Bn. Dong Ha Nov 1966-June 67, and TDY 12th Mar Rgt, Camp Carroll Spring Monsoon 1967.
Greg, any experience with the M114 ?
Going off the description of being able to be effectively blown into two pieces by a land mine, I don't think I'd have wanted to be in one. Which seems to be what the military said anyway because they got shelved.No, none. As I understood it; the M114 was essentially only used by Canada.
Greg
I guess no safety mechanism built into the design to prevent sinking or quick access for the troops to escape ?
I can tell you from personal experience doing amphibious assault rehearsals onto San Clemente Island, the seas can be either glass, or 3-5 foot rolling swells.I read an article today about the vehicles encountering rough seas beyond the surf zone...
Each AAV has about a 3' square opening in the front on top, called the intake plenum. Its main purpose is to suck in tremendous amounts of air to help keep the engine cool on land (that's as brief as I can make it) There is a hydraulic door that closes when the vehicle is in water mode, as the 30 gallons of coolant is circulated across the bottom of the hull, essentially being cooled by contact with the sea (and that's why we call it the 'contact cooler').
Water pressure onto the top of the vehicle can actually be heavy enough to open that door to the intake plenum...especially if there is a hydraulic issue (no pressure to keep the door up then among other things).
The bilge pumps are rated to pump out 430 GPM if everything is working correctly, but if there is a hydraulic issue then you can scrub 230 GPM off as two of the bilge pumps are hydraulic and two electric.
Several *towed* AAVs have been sunk because they were pulled nose first through the water with no hydraulic pressure to keep the door closed on the intake plenum.
A Marine with a head injury that proved fatal would seem most likely from a cargo hatch across the top. With extra armor (EAAK) they also have extra strong springs attached...I have a fried who has little use of his hand 20 years later after a cargo hatch closed on it...and he's lucky it didn't cut his hand in two. The wound was brutal when it happened. Perhaps the Marine got his head caught in a slamming hatch in rough seas as he tried to eagress out the top (crew transfer SOP) without his helmet on? It takes two dudes to open one. That's how strong/heavy they are. Purely a guess.
Since reports of gross negligence aren't floating around, I'm going to assume that this was close to a perfect storm of sorts. Evidence is so deep and been down for so long already that unless there is an obvious broken part when they get it to the surface, all we'll have to go on is personal accounts.
I don't know what the sea state was either...we have that and a modified surf index to use to let us know if it's safe to enter the water.
I got 'woke' when I under stood the meaning of the term..."Expendable combat unit."
RIP, brothers.