Dear Otus,
I know it's relatively cheap military surplus, but what the heck does North Little Rock need with a Navy patrol boat? Isn't that a tad overkill?
-- Alan Smithee, Sherwood
Dear Alan,
It was wholly a pleasure to hear from you, and to boil it down, it's better to have an RCB-X and not need one, than to need one and not have it.
And as we all know, North Little Rock has in recent years been on the cutting edge of surplus Navy equipment. I mean, the city has a functioning submarine.
Didn't know that? Oh, yeah. The USS Razorback, the Balao-class submarine docked at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum, was quietly brought online last year and is fully capable of casting off with a half-hour notice to handle any threat to the city coming up the river from Mississippi or down from Oklahoma.
Not that either is expected, but better safe than sorry.
The sub, which was present in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, when the Japanese surrendered, can be manned with a skeleton crew of 19. It carries a full load of 24 Mark 6 torpedoes, a .25-caliber deck gun, and Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannons.
Unfortunately, the RUR-5 ASROC anti-submarine missile system was removed due to the shallow depth of the river.
The Razorback may be a powerful deterrent, but it's somewhat impractical for dealing with smaller, faster craft. North Little Rock's $5,000 purchase of the $780,000 RCB-X, however should make any water-borne miscreants with nefarious designs think twice.
The RCB-X (that stands for Riverine Command Boat/Experimental) is fully capable of coordinating efforts with the fleet of Army surplus Caiman 6x6 MRAP (Mine-Resistant, Ambush Protected) vehicles that have been bought by seven state law enforcement agencies.
The MRAPs are now part of the deterrent force for the police departments of Little Rock, Benton, Hot Springs and Texarkana, as well as the Jefferson County and Benton County sheriff's offices.
Those massive, 18.5-ton armored vehicles, which can carry a fully-equipped 10-man SWAT team, are more than adequate to handle everything from a riot to a barricaded deadbeat dad, but their capability ends at the water's edge.
Myopic critics (such as the American Civil Liberties Union) grouse about the increasing militarization of the nation's civilian police force, but when it comes to crime, you'd better fight fire with bigger fire.
These are the same critics who opposed the addition of specially equipped low-profile Dodge Chargers to the LRPD patrol division in 2012.
With their V-8 Hemi engines, the cars may look like something out of Fast and Furious, but they come with mobile radars, body heat sensors, state-of-the-art computers, license plate readers and high definition cameras.
Which brings us back to the RCB-X and the immediate need for its implementation.
The Arkansas Big Bass Bonanza is scheduled for June 27-29 on the Arkansas River and is expected to draw more than 2,000 crazed bass fishermen from 18 states, whipped into a frenzy by the $250,000 top prize.
The river will be divided into five pools from Fort Smith to Dumas, with Pool No. 3 at North Little Rock expected to be the most congested and contested because the use of pork rinds is permitted this year.
The modern bass boat is a thing of speed and beauty, and the top anglers are like petulant rock stars in their circle. With such high stakes, tempers are bound to flare. That's where the menacing presence of North Little Rock's RCB-X will be invaluable.
The RCB-X is powered by an alternate blend of 50 percent algae-based biofuel and 50 percent NATO F-76 fuels to reduce total energy consumption and increase range.
The heavy aluminum, armor-plated boat is 49 feet long, 12 feet wide, and its 1,700 horsepower Swedish-built engines and Rolls Royce twin-duct water jet propulsion give it a top speed of 44 knots (about 51 mph) with a range of 240 nautical miles.
It has a shallow, 3 foot draft, so the crew of four can maneuver into the same backwaters as a bass boat.
The RCB-X commands respect with six gun mounts. It can carry .50 caliber machine guns, a twin-barrel 12 cm mortar, 40 mm grenade launchers or Hellfire missiles. (The missiles will not be deployed during the bass tournament.)
The North Little Rock Police Department Maritime Patrol Division will be putting the boat through its paces from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Riverfront Park. The drill will include a mock attack from 14 crazed bass boats flinging pork rinds. It should be spectacular.
Until next time, Kalaka reminds you that North Little Rock's Drone Patrol, featuring an Air Force surplus unmanned MQ-1 Predator, should be up and flying by late summer.
Disclaimer
Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat’s award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
HomeStyle on 05/17/2014