Assault Craft Unit 5

Assault Craft Unit 5 (ACU 5) is one of the United States Navy Amphibious Assault Teams. ACU-5 current headquarters are at Camp Pendleton, where their main priority is naval support operations and the transfer of troops, food, and fire power. ACU-5 has been in many amphibious operations like Operation Desert Storm, Operation Restore Hope the WestPac Alfa detachment. ACU-5 main vechicle are LCACs, which are Landing Craft Air Cushion. ACU-5 has a personnel of over 400 sailors and 5 head departments. In charge of those 5 departments and ACU-5 is Vice Admiral Richard Hunt.

ACU-5
Assault craft Unit 5 or ACU-5 is a part of the Pacific force fleet. Its main objective is to help support naval operations using LCACs to transport troops, food, and firepower including tanks. ACU-5 is a vital part of the navy due to the fact they can deliver supplies across long distances in a short period of time. Vice Admiral Richard Hunt became the commander of naval surface force, US Pacific force fleet in June 2011.

ACU-5 Departments
With over 400 Sailors in ACU-5, the operation department is in charge of the deployments, some of the sailors are deployed with amphibious readiness groups (ARG's). The ACU-5 Maintenance department has 5 maintenance groups that are in charge of the repair and upkeeping of LCACs. The supply department is given an annual budget of 18 million dollars, and is required to catolog warehouses full uniforms, machine parts and equipment most of these warehouses have over 9000 parts each. The Training Department provides basic and advanced LCAC operational training to all the sailors in ACU-5. In addition to their training, ACU-5 maintains close connections with Expeditionary Warfare Training Group Pacific (EWTGPAC). The Executive department is in charge of any administrative, technical, or medical paperwork involving ACU-5.
 * Operations department
 * Maintenance department
 * Supply department
 * Training department
 * Executive department

LCAC
LCAC or Landing Craft Air Cushion are operated and owned by the U.S. Navy. The concept design for the modern day LCAC began in the early 1970s. The purpose of the LCACs are to "carry heavy vehicles and cargo" onto beaches at high speeds and over longer distances. The LCACs are now starting a Ship to Shore modification or Ship-to-Objective Maneuver, which is said to be the next progression in the evolution of amphibious warfare. This modification should help increase the speed and landing accuracy of the current LCACs.



Operations
During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, there were eleven LCACs stationed on the Persian Gulf; this was the LCAC's largest deployment. In 1992, ACU-5 deployed 3 LCACs to Japan and created a permanent military presence called detachment Westpac Alfa. ACU-5 conducted landings in Somalia to help with Operation Restore Hope.