Wind, High Seas Scrub Mock Marine Invasion

The U.S. military today canceled a second attempt at a mock invasion on a Saudi beach because of poor weather and said it was scrapping the maneuver.

The Marine assault in water-skimming Hovercraft was expected to have been one of the dramatic highlights of the first joint U.S.-Saudi military exercise, code-named Imminent Thunder. The six-day exercise ends Wednesday.

The Marines had tried to storm the beach Sunday and today, but heavy seas and high winds prevented the mock invasion. The U.S. military said there will not be a third attempt.

Maj. Gen. Harry W. Jenkins Jr., commander of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade, said he thought that Sunday’s amphibious landing would have gone ahead in a real war but that there was no need to risk casualties for a drill.

Some officers aboard the amphibious landing ship Gunston Hall, however, said similar conditions could thwart planned landings in actual combat.

Winter seas in the gulf normally average 2 to 4 feet, but the season is characterized by periodic north winds during which waves reach 8 to 15 feet, according to Navy officials.

The high seas usually occur about twice each winter, between October and January.

On Sunday, helicopters from the Guam deposited 400 troops in the mock invasion force on a Saudi beach 80 miles south of the Kuwaiti border. U.S., British and French warplanes roared overhead, giving simulated air support. Among the troops were 36 Saudi Arabian marines.