SEALs - VBSS - HH-60H

Navy SEALs fast-rope down from a HH-60H Seahawk helicopter during Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) training.

During the run up to the 2003 Gulf War, SEAL teams would board vessels in the Persian Gulf which were smuggling arms and supplies to Iraq, in defiance of U.

N.

Sanctions.

The SEALs would board in international waters, as the law required.

The smugglers sometimes closed up their ship, welding steel plates over all entrances to prevent the SEALs taking control.

It was then a race against time as the smugglers made for the safety of Iraqi or Iranian waters.

The SEAL VBSS teams developed a number of tools and techniques to ensure rapid entry into these closed-up vessels.

SEAL VBSS ops have also included hunting for fleeing Taliban / Al Qaeda onboard ships following the invasion of Afghanistan, 2001.