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Navy special force to have its profile raised to SAS level By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 16/09/2002) The Special Boat Service is to get a new cap badge as part of "a corporate make-over" to give it as high a profile as its Army special forces rival, the SAS. The Royal Navy's SBS has traditionally been part of the Royal Marine Commandos and its members wear the same green beret and cap badge as their commando colleagues, leaving the service struggling to create its own identity. Where its presence on the ground is overt, its operations are usually credited to the commandos and when it takes part in covert special forces operations the credit invariably goes to the SAS. "There has been a problem with the image of the SBS for some time," one senior source said. "The fact is that these days the SBS are on a par with the SAS. They often take over from each other on operational tasks and covert duties." Although the SBS traditionally came under the control of the Royal Marines, and only recruited from among the commandos, in recent years command of the unit has passed to the Director Special Forces, who is also in charge of the SAS. Over the past year, another link to the Royal Marines has been severed with the introduction of joint selection for both the SAS and the SBS. Now any member of the armed forces can join either unit. As a result, the unit has doubled in size to about 230 men. A number of ex-soldiers, including a former Parachute Regiment captain, are now members of the SBS and wear their old cap badge on the green beret. Senior officers want to replace the Royal Marines "Globe and Laurel" cap badge with a new insignia which all SBS members can wear, although the unit is expected to retain the elite green beret in recognition of its link to the commandos. The SBS already has an unofficial emblem, which incorporates a frog, paddles and a parachute, but the new badge is expected to be a more sober image combining the traditional special forces dagger with elements of its commando tradition. The SBS, based in Poole, Dorset, was created during the Second World War as the Special Boat Section, earning its nickname as "the Cockleshell Heroes" after a 1942 raid on German ships in Bordeaux harbour. Five two-man teams, each paddling a collapsible canoe or "cockle", attached limpet mines to the ships. Only two of the 10 Cockleshell Heroes escaped. Six were executed by the Germans and two are believed to have drowned. After the Second World War the SBS, now the Special Boat Squadron, was re-organised into boat units and deployed around the world. Then, in the 1980s, the name was changed to Special Boat Service. The unit played a key role in the Falklands war when they swam ashore ahead of the Task Force to identify the beaches weeks before the main landing force arrived. To earn the status of Swimmer Canoeist, the traditional SBS trade, potential members must be able to canoe five miles at night on the open sea in a two- man team to a landmark from where they march for 30 miles. They must also be able to swim two miles and dive underwater the length of a pool twice, before jumping off the top diving board blindfolded wearing full equipment. The SBS plays a key role in the war against drugs, using high-powered interceptor speedboats around the British coastline to catch smugglers in support of Customs and Excise.