U.S. Navy Landing Force Rifle Squads
- Feb 25, 2023
- 1 min read
This video takes a look at U.S. Navy Landing Force Rifle Squads from 1943 and 1950-60. These were ad hoc details of Navy sailors pulled from their duties onboard their ships to form landing parties. Special attention is paid to the standardized landing force aboard 2100-ton destroyers during WWII. During the 1950s, the structure was more akin to a lighter U.S. Marine Corps unit, with up to battalion-sized units able to be formed from several ships.
Here is a graphic representation of the World War II squad aboard a Fletcher-class destroyer:
This was interesting. I have several vintage editions of the Bluejacket's Manual and a reprint of the 1940 Small Wars Manual. I was on active duty in the Marines from June 1975 to June 1979.
This graphic on a naval landing party rifle squad is in line with the squad organization of the Marines of 1940--the Small Wars Manual recommended task-organization of Marine rifle squads (9 Marines at the time) into two teams, each with an automatic weapon (BAR or Thompson). There were about 3 million M1903 rifles produced, most between 1940 and 1945, and the 4 million M1 rifles were sent to the infantry--Army and Marines. The 1940 Small Wars Manual postulated that the M1 could replace the B…