It still may be an experimental ship, but a new, high-tech support vessel the Corps is testing for future amphibious operations already has gotten its first taste of combat operations. Just hours after Operation Iraqi Freedom began, the High Speed Vessel X-1 “Joint Venture” sped into the shallow Persian Gulf waters near the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, acting as an afloat forward staging base for Marine Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Teams and Navy SEAL commandos. In one of the first raids of the war, the HSV deployed a commando team March 20 in Mark V and Rigid Hull Inflatable...