Small boat operations in military and naval warfare refers to operations in and around the

littoral zone The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal ...

, within a certain distance of shore, carried out by small but fast and highly maneuverable craft. In recent years small unmanned systems have been tested for use in this kind of warfare. The role of these types of operations would be both offensive and defensive. Conventional navies have used small craft for hit-and-run type attacks and raids on enemy ships, shoreline and port facilities as far back as

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

(the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

e-boats E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft (German: ''Schnellboot'', or ''S-Boot'', meaning "fast boat") of the Kriegsmarine during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a patrol craft from an armed motorboat to a lar ...

) and recent as the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Counci ...

. Following suicide attacks on warships by terrorists such as in the Sri Lankan Civil War and the

USS Cole bombing The USS ''Cole'' bombing was a suicide attack by the terrorist group al-Qaeda against , a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, on 12 October 2000, while she was being refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor. Seventeen U.S. Navy sai ...

, navies have adapted specialized craft to maintain port security, patrol coastal and river line areas.

Craft types

Rigid Raider The Rigid Raider (RRC) is a series of fast raiding and assault craft made by RTK Marine, a subsidiary of Halmatic, part of BAE Systems Surface Ships. They are primarily in service with two branches of the British Armed Forces: The Royal Navy (in ...

* Arrow boat * SOC-R boat

Units

1 Assault Group Royal Marines 47 Commando (Raiding Group) Royal Marines, formerly 1 Assault Group Royal Marines (2001-2019), provides the Royal Marines expertise and training in small boat operations, both amphibious and riverine. In addition, it trains and parents the Assau ...

Rapid Action Boat Squadron The Rapid Action Boat Squadron (RABS)(In Sinhalese: "ක්ෂණික ක්‍රියාකාරී යාත්‍රා බලඝණය" ''Ksanika Vihidum Yathra Balaghanaya'') is a force element squadron of the Sri Lanka Navy that provide ...

* Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen

Craft types

Units

See also