Trucks from Fleet Week SF

Fleet week is a military celebration each year in San Francisco, CA. Held annually between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, The San Francisco Fleet Week Air Show attracts fans from all over the globe. The waterfront event is headlined by The U.S. Navy Blue Angels and is the only air show in the United States with a commercial airliner. Seeing a Boeing 777 from United fly low and slow is a trippy experience. The US armed forces and others set up on the marina green lawn to show off all their gear and to present themselves to the public. It’s basically a big recruiting event. The cool thing is that they bring out a ton (literally tons) of their gear, including some cool vehicles.

OshKosh Defense is a US company that builds many of the vehicles on display for the NAVY. They are massive and have some impressive off-road capabilities.

JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle)

There are 4 models or configurations of the JLTV. This is the Utility or UTL. “The Oshkosh Defense® Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is designed for never-before-achieved speed, power and protected mobility outside the wire. From its patented TAK-4iTM intelligent independent suspension system to scalable levels of protection and complete plug and play C4ISR capability—Oshkosh JLTV is the go-anywhere, do-anything light tactical vehicle. The Oshkosh JLTV quickly adjusts to achieve diverse transportability needs—by air (CH-47 and CH-53 helicopters’ C-130, C-5, C-17 and A400 Cargo fixed-wing aircraft), land and sea. And it’s ready on arrival, giving troops the reliability and performance needed for harsh battlefield environments.”

Top Speed: 70mph

Engine/Motor: V8

Horsepower: 575

Torque: 900

The Oshkosh Defense® Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) HIMARS resupply vehicle is specifically designed to support the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Those same ones that are being set to Ukraine for the Russian / Ukrainian war. This is the do all hauler. “It is mobile, versatile and durable, and engineered with combat-proven advanced technologies like the TAK-4® independent suspension system. Systems that allow it to maneuver over the roughest terrains and through the most hazardous environments even while transporting two multiple launch rocket-systems family of munitions (MFOM) pods. The MTVR HIMARS resupply vehicle is built to perform – consistently and powerfully on each and every mission.”

All of these were part of the SeaBees exhibit. The USNCB (United States Naval Construction Battalions), better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon context, "Seabee" can refer to all enlisted personnel in the USN's occupational field 7 (OF-7), all personnel in the Naval Construction Force (NCF), or Construction Battalion. Seabees serve both in and outside the NCF. During World War II they were plank-holders of both the Naval Combat Demolition Units and the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs). The men in the NCF considered these units to be "Seabee". In addition, Seabees served as elements of Cubs, Lions, Acorns and the United States Marine Corps.

They also provided the manpower for the top secret CWS Flame Tank Group. Today the Seabees have many special task assignments starting with Camp David and the Naval Support Unit at the Department of State. Seabees serve under both Commanders of the Naval Surface Forces Atlantic/Pacific fleets as well as on many base Public Works and USN diving commands.

Naval Construction Battalions were conceived of as replacements for civilian construction companies in combat zones after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the time civilian contractors had roughly 70,000 men working U.S.N. contracts overseas. International law made it illegal for civilian workers to resist an attack. Doing so would classify them as guerrillas and could lead to summary execution. That is exactly what happened at Wake and would serve as the backstory to the World War II movie The Fighting Seabees.

The American Red Cross had their Sprinter out there. Nothing really specially about this van. But I always found it interesting that some of these vans had this “SPRINTER” Logo front badge. It’s not a Mercedes or Freightliner. We always thought it was an odd choice of elevating a brand. Kind of like Corvette I guess. The dually had these air pressure balancing valves which are nice. They allow you to fill both tires from one single valve and keeps the pressure across the two adjacent tires equal. It can also show you if the pressure is low.

Some other stuff at the show included Military Drones, Vintage CHP cars, some old Humvees and even some seal scuba demos.