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Let me, a former frogman, put in my $0.02 worth.

A scuba attack is not that hard to master, depending on the water. In very cold water with swift currents it's a b!tch. In calmer water, it would be no sweat. But I still don't think that an underwater scuba attack would be the first choice, it's just not neccesary to attack underwater!

Sure, to attack a Soviet sub base in 1975, that might call for mini subs and no-bubble rebreather rigs, and the skills of say, SEALs. But in the USA in 2002, forget all that, even today our maritime security is virtually nonexistant where it counts.

Think surface swimmers and kayaks. A surface swimmer with only his black painted face out of the water, swimming on his back using only his fins, is VERY hard to see. Stay in the shadows, get under the docks, it's easy. Tow in a neutrally bouyant 55 gallon drum filled with the demo of your choice, I'll leave the rest to your imagination, only in case some stupid rag hasn't already considered it.

Historical note: the British SBS was born in WW2 when Blondie Hasler led a half dozen two man kayaks way up the Girone River in France right under the noses of the Nazis and sank several large ships pierside. Just black painted kayaks, that's all it takes to get alongside a ship with enough demo to sink it.

I could go to any Boy Scout summer camp and get 20 kids capable of sinking most of our fleet at the dock in Norfolk or San Diego in one night. They would need a month of training and a few thousand dollars for equipment.

Scary....I don't see an easy way to protect military or civilian floating assets right off the top of my head other than to try to break our enemies will to fight..do you?

My experience with merchant ships at night is that they are dark unwieldy leviathans quite vulnerable to anyone with the cajones and the knowledge.

"Stay in the shadows, get under the docks, it's easy. Tow in a neutrally bouyant 55 gallon drum filled with the demo of your choice, I'll leave the rest to your imagination, only in case some stupid rag hasn't already considered it."

Yep...and if it has to do with killing people, they probably HAVE considerd it.

A second to absolutely everything you have said. Now lets talk how noticable a water borne attack would be in say New York or Boston Harbor. I choose these two because I am quite familiar with both. In New York Harbor and Boston Harbor things like refrigerators floating in the harbor are considered normal and no one pays any attention to these. In Yemen a power boat loaded with HE came alongside of the USS Cole detonated and almost sank the ship. Substitute a LNG super tanker for the Cole and a US harbor for the location and you have the equivalent of a Hiroshima type blast. On a summer day in New York Harbor it is almost like rush hour on the water. A Coast Guard 100 times its current size would have a difficult job of providing security.

Kayaks? No one pays any attention to them. Naval Bases do have some security so an attack on one of them may have its difficulties but if the terrorists wishchoose "civilian targets that will damage the USA the number of absolutely inprotected targets is too large to even imagine. As to a scuba borne attack. Rebreathers are unecessary. Who will pay attention to bubbles except at a Navy base. Even then the chances of bubbles being spotted on a breezy day is slim. Yes the USN has counter measures available but outside of US Navy facilities what security is there in the water? hey in New York or Boston Harbor if they do not not wish to use a 55 gallon drum they can substitute a refrigerator. As to swimmers in the water people as a rule don't even call in dead bodies in the water.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown