The United Kingdom's Special Boat Squadrons

The Special Boat Service (SBS) is a naval special forces group. They are a branch of Great Britain's Royal Marines; and are considered one of the best naval special forces teams in the world. There is a minimum requirement of two years service in the Royal Marines before being eligable for SBS service.
Like many other teams, the SBS are proficient at demolitions, diving, and parachuting; unlike other teams, much of the above is done with the two-man Klepper canoe (one of the training events is a timed five mile run with a disassembled canoe, with each operator carrying about a 60 pound load).
The SBS are organized into at least three groups; C, M, and S Squadron. C Squadron is responsible for swimmer/canoe operations. M Squadron is the antiterrorist and shipboard operations. Within M Squadron is the small Black Group--the counter-terrorist team that uses heliborne assaults. S Squadron specializes in small water borne craft and minibsub insertions and operations.
The SBS use many weapons in their daily operations; many are common in other teams. Assault rifles include the Heckler and Koch MP-5 family and the M-16A2.
The Special Boat Service was formed originally during World War Two to satisfy the need for maritime special operations.
Following the war little need was seen for Special Operations, but the idea still had merit. Various teams were combined or shut down until all that remained was the Royal Marines "Combined Operations Beach and Boats Section" (COBBS). In 1948 there was another name change, to "Small Raids Wing of the Royal Marines Amphibious School" and a deployment to Palestine, to aid in the British blockade. Members were responsible for ordinance destruction and the removal of limpet mines planted by the fledgling state of Israel.
The Small Raids Wing name began to fade when the Soviet Union began to threaten the Allied occupation of Berlin. A new unit was drawn up as part of the Royal Navy Rhine Flotilla and was shortly named the 2 SBS. 3 SBS was formed in 1951 and the SRW school section at Eastney was renamed the Special Boat Wing later that year.
The SBS served during the Korean War as part of the UN forces defending South Korea after it was invaded. The SBS performed raids along the North Korean coast, attacking targets such as railways using their signature two-man canoes or from submarines like the USS Perch.
Squadrons of the SBS continued to see some action after the Korean War. In 1952 they conducted a survey or part of the Egyptian coastline in preparation for an evacuation of British citizens. Later, during the Suez crisis of 1956, 1 and 6 SBS were mobilized for potential action. 1 SBS was to cut any cables strung across the Suez canal to block ships and 6 SBS was mobilized to scout potential landing sites in Egypt, alhtough their mission was cancelled before they could deploy. Members of the SBS were also active in anti-guerrilla operations in Indonesia between 1961 and 1971 where they kept tabs on geurilla activity.
6 SBS was stationed in the Mediterranean sea to support NATO in the event that Soviet Submarines escaped from the Black Sea in time of War, but they also managed to survey coastlines for landings and gather intelligence. Later, they sent a detachment to Bahrain; this basing was made permanent in 1961 with the treat of an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. This team surveyed landing areas as well as spending time training Iran's SBS.
The SBS took part in a highly publicized mid-ocean drop when a bomb threat was called in on the Queen Elizabeth 2. Although the threat was proved to be a hoax, the quickness and effectiveness of the jumpMembers of the SBS took part in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. They were involved in the beginning days, taking part in amphibious landings on the Al-Faw Peninsula near the port of Umm Qasr. Later, teams were inserted into Northern Iraq to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage missions. One such group of around thirty to forty SBS members was dropped into position near Mosul where they split into individual teams. One team of ten operators was ambushed and their land rovers taken under fire by heavy weapons.