River-crossing

tankee1981 SG · 2006-07-19T09:27:47+00:00

Field engineers, those in 30SCE build fixed bridges, more for supply lines, also prepare ground for initial assault as support unit for RCO. The key players...

tankee1981 SG

I know that for safety during training, the top hatches of armoured vehicles are opened with the personnel standing out of them while donning life jackets. My question is what is the SOP for such operation while in war time. Thanks Very Happy

hmsg SG

ask your commanders....

nightzip SG

i believed he IS the commander. Very Happy

tankee1981 SG

Hey! SM1 no river crossing without bridge so its only natural that i don't know. Very Happy

ditzy SG

For the bx, the driver has to do so open hatch, because its a known fact he will drown in there. Laughing When swimming, half the engine is underwater, which means half the driver's cockpit is too. I don't think I need to answer for the crew either. Fcuk, when the bx has to swim you can't see who's doing what anyway, they could be sunbathing, and you might not even guess.

beavan SG

i think in war they won't make armoured vehs swim. they probably will try to find as many ways to get across the river, with swimming the last choice.

there are many bridges available to the army now.14-18m bridges

tankee1981 SG

Having the ability to swim have the advantage of striking where it is least expected and of course will save time as bridging still need time.

But the vehicle while swimming is the most vulnerable as it is in the open and moving quite slowly. This risk can be minimised by having other vehicles to cover those crossing. Very Happy

Twice A Day SG

Ha..Cover is one thing..But to imagine the sight of chains of vehicle swimming across a waterbody...Hmmm just seem like little ducklings taking a sunbath...
Bombard bombard Bombard and Sink Sink Sink... Very Happy

baer SG

In singapore we are so used to water crossing at surveyed sites etc. What about points of ingress and egress, approaches, holding area, local and far security...

I am but a simple pioneer, wave flag, mark lanes etc only.

moca SG

One night we were recceing in a boat possible landing sites along the north shore of SIngapore. At one point we were rowing across a river mouth - where the river meets the sea.

It was really shallow and calm on the surface, but the current underneath was so strong that it almost swept out paddles away from our hands.

tankee1981 SG

Originally posted by moca
It was really shallow and calm on the surface, but the current underneath was so strong that it almost swept out paddles away from our hands.

There is a chinese saying "qi1 shan1 mo4 qi1 shui3", when directly translated, roughly means that we can look down on mountains but not of water bodies. This means that there are many hidden dangers when encountering water (eg strong currents), therefore one must never let his guard down when dealing with water bodies with seemingly calm surfaces.

Hope my explanation is good enough. If not pls make necessary corrections. Very Happy

Shotgun SG

Maybe they shud just put spare air inside the vehicles that have to swim. In case the vehicle swim, the driver or whoever still got a short 5 min supply of air to get out.

specfore SG

My friend is in a specialised engineer unit that is supposed to do beach reconnaisance ( which include river banks). In fact , he is at brigade level. So before the brigade engineer recce team arrives, there is the likelyhood that other recce teams ( e.g. from CDO, from NDU ) have already scouted the place and reported back. The engineer recce team is to go there to confirm, even do ground sampling to test for hardness etc etc and start marking lanes and such.

Pretty standard "SOP". There are many activities that link up to a battle plan. The jobs that we do in NS is just one of these activities --- a small part. Unfortunately, we see only a small picture this way. But if you are attached to Division or Brigade Ops, you get to see how the commanders stitch together the activities of the smaller units.

storywolf SG

14 -18 m bridges ?? those are of drains and small streams haha !!!

Let me introduce you to the real river crossing system.

This is the US ribbon bridge, this one is build in iraq , russia version is the PMP bridge.

khaiseng SG

u are talking about completely different bridging system.

the one in the picture is a float bridge, we have our equivalent being done by 35 SCE. the ability to have such a long bridge will also depend on site conditions, the one in the picture appears to be constructed right beside an existing bridge site, river conditions seems to be pretty stable. try constructing a long float bridge beside a fast moving river and u'll start seeing the bridge tearing apart.

float bridges are more of tactical support bridges, more for follow on forces, not the ones which u want to construct in the midst of a battle.

the 10-18m or even the 26m Bionix launched bridge falls under assualt bridges, organic to armour units. used when the forces encountered gaps or water bodies that the forces cannot ford or jump across.

u go look at US army's bridging inventory and u can see close simliarity with singapore's assets. Wolverine bridging units which are similiar to our bionix launched bridge. they are looking for a new HSSB to replace the manual bailey bridge system.

for your info, we have stopped using bailey bridges long long ago and already got their equivalent of HSSB for almost 10 years already

storywolf SG

Please stop mixing up field engineers or armour engineer bridges for river crossing. For those that we call rivers is what you mention in term of field and armour engineering bridges is too short for it . You think a river is 10-20m ? that a stream. A river is can be over 50 - 200m or even more.

It is possible to construct a long bridge even in a fast moving water, what the picture of the ribbon bridge did not show, is usually they have a work boat connected to different section of the bridge. By using their motor, they are able to use forward and backward to hold the whole bridge in place even in swift current. In the worst situation, of the current too strong, instead of building a bridge, they be using rafting operation to cross.

tiggersgd SG

most normal will be rafting...

sgf SG

Sounds like the tugboats & candace pontoons of 35 SCE at work.

storywolf SG

Same theory applies to all floating bridges - ribbon bridges , PMP or what Singapore have. In fact most of them are copy from the russia design of pontoon system which was effective.

khaiseng SG

bridges are tempting strategic targets. destory it and u cut 1 lifeline of your aggressor

if 1 bomber managed to penetrate the air defence screen, who will he bomb? a company of infantry when there's many more or 1 bridging unit when there's only a handful around.