Dozens of spectators on the northern Oregon coast witnessed something you don’t see everyday: a beach landing by two U.S. Navy hovercrafts from a ship offshore.
The scene on Sunset Beach south of Warrenton near the mouth of the Columbia River was part of an earthquake and tsunami relief drill conducted Monday by the Navy, along with the Oregon Military Department and Clatsop County Emergency Management, according to KGW 8.
The first hovercraft delivered trucks and supplies to the beach. A second hovercraft landed to allow spectators to tour the amphibious landing craft. A C-130 also did a flyover in a mock airdrop to the beach.
Among the spectators was Navy veteran Gene Cochran of Port Orchard, Wash. He was on vacation in Seaside, Ore., when he heard about the drills and decided to observe them.
“Serving in the Navy on submarines as long as I did, I never got to see anything like this,” Cochran told KGW 8. “Having this capability in time of emergency, let alone emergency for our country, is pretty impressive.”
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The Landing Craft Air Cushion, as the hovercrafts are officially known, are used by the U.S. Navy to transport weapon systems, equipment, cargo, personnel and supplies from ship to shore and across the beach.
The hovercraft with its four gas turbine engines can travel up to 46 mph with a payload of 60 tons. It is 88-feet long and 47-feet wide, carries an array of armaments and is operated by a five-man crew.
The hovercrafts were reportedly used in the relief effort after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Generic photo of a Landing Craft Air Cushion courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
