Beach Jumpers
Beach Jumpers were U.S. Navy special warfare units organized during World War II by Lieutenant Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
When he returned to the U.S., Fairbanks presented his idea for a unit of men trained to conduct tactical cover, diversionary and deception missions to Admiral Ernest J.
Their early basic mission was "To assist and support the operating forces in the conduct of Tactical Cover and Deception in Naval Warfare."
On 16 March 1943, the volunteers reported to the Amphibious Training Base at Camp Bradford, Virginia, forming Beach Jumper Unit One.
The unit was assigned ten 63-foot double-hulled plywood air-sea rescue (ASR) boats, each manned by an officer and a six-man crew.
The boats were equipped with twin 50 caliber machine guns, 3.5-inch window rockets, smoke pots and generators, and floating time-delay explosive packs.
They also carried the unit's specialized deception equipment: the multi-component "heater," consisting of a wire recorder; 5-phase amplifier, and 1000 watt, 12 horn speaker; and ZKM and MK-6 Naval balloons to which strips of radar reflective window had been attached.
On the night of 10 July 1943, Beach Jumper Unit 1 (BJU 1) was ordered to conduct a diversion off Cape San Marco, 100 miles west of the HUSKY landing area.
As the sound boats prepared to make their run parallel to the beach, a searchlight from Cape San Marco illuminated the area, accompanied by small arms and artillery fire.
Beach Jumper operations in the Pacific were less rewarding, but at least one diversion proved effective, allowing the 34th Regimental Combat team and the 38th and 11th Airborne Divisions to land with little or no opposition.
The Beach Jumpers knew that fleet communications from the force commander to ships at sea were relayed through radio Washington.
Through the late-1950s and into the early-1960s as the Cold War evolved into the "counterinsurgency era", Beach Jumper expertise in the area of manipulative and imitative deception and electronic warfare (EW) was employed in revolutionary new ways, both during scheduled fleet exercises and on actual operations.
They conducted monitoring, tape preparation, and Soviet signal intelligence SIGINT trawler jamming missions from destroyers.
Other Beach Jumpers operated under the cover name "Yankee Station Special Surveillance Unit", aboard fleet tugs such as the USS Cocopa (ATF-101).
