Commanding The 481st Transportation
Company (Heavy Boat)
Steven B. McLaughlin
My unit is one of the few heavy boat
transportation units in the Army. The unit mission is to provide transportation
support for wheeled and tracked vehicles, containers, break-bulk cargo, and
personnel. This can be accomplished through ship-to-shore, ship-to-ship, or
shore-to-shore missions within inland waterways or the open ocean.
The men and women of the 481st are highly
trained, dedicated, motivated and very proud of their unit. Many of the
soldiers, some of whom commute from nearby states, arrive at the unit on the
night prior to drill in order to prepare for the weekend training mission. Most
missions require overnight voyages that last for upwards of 24 hours.
Training and certification to operate Army
watercraft is extensive. Vessel masters and chief engineers, all of whom are
warrant officers, must complete a nine month technical certification course at
Ft. Eustis Va., and pass an exhaustive examination and hands on training before
being licensed to operate a vessel. Enlisted crewmembers have similar technical
training requirements.
The 481st is located at the former Mare
Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California at 1481 Railroad Ave, Building
1296. We have an authorized strength of 163.
The 481ST is the first USAR unit to receive
the new LCU-2000 class vessel. Currently we are authorized 10 LCU-2000 and one
J-boat that is used as a command and control vessel. Our current strength is 8
LCU-2000’s. An experienced warrant officer commands each vessel. The chief
engineer, also a warrant officer, and the first mate (E-7) assist him. Also in
lieu of a J-Boat, the unit has 1 LCM-8. An experienced coxswain (E-5) commands
the vessel with a crew of 2.
Crew Coach
Chris Dadd
I’m the Freshman/Novice Coach for the
Berkeley High School Men’s Crew. The Berkeley High Crew has been in existence
for 30-plus years. Berkeley High School is the only public high school west of
the Rockies that has its own crew team. So we are pretty unique in that respect.
The process of starting the guys out is what
I do. As novice coach, I get guys who for the most part have never been in a
boat. Some of them may have had a few days here and there, say in summer camp,
but for the most part these are guys that are absolutely new. At the beginning
of the year, I start with 20 or so wild kids without a clue about what we’re
doing and I try to turn them into a competitive rowing team.
We start with some conditioning and learning
the basic mechanics of rowing on the rowing machines. Then about late October,
we start going to the dock in Alameda and rowing real boats. It’s a very
gradual process teaching the kids the rowing strokes. We’ve had a number of
races so far this year and we’ve won some and lost some. On the whole as a
novice team, we’re right up there.
Our boats are stored on a concrete pier
called Shipway 4 that used to be part of the shipbuilding infrastructure on the
estuary in Alameda. It used to be where they made Liberty Ships so we’re out
there on the open. We’re not that far from where the tube goes under, a little
south of Jack London Square. For the most part, we row down south toward San
Leandro and the airport because the water tends to be calmer down there. We don’t
have to contend with the ferryboats, which throw up a large wake.
