Navy, United States, is the branch of the armed forces of the United States that acts to maintain command of the sea and freedom of navigation on the world’s busiest sea lanes. In peacetime, the Navy maintains a presence around the world to deter conflict, and serves as an instrument of international relations. Navy ships also assist in humanitarian missions, such as carrying food and medical supplies to disaster areas. Merchant vessels and passenger ships often call on the Navy for aid in emergencies.
In time of war, the Navy seeks out and destroys the enemy on, under, or above the sea. It can also strike the enemy ashore. Naval amphibious forces can support troop landings on enemy-controlled shores. Nuclear-powered submarines can carry missiles and travel around the world underwater. Any enemy that might attack the United States must expect counterblows from these submarines, whose exact locations at sea cannot be pinpointed.
The Navy has about 300 ships. They include aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and amphibious ships. These fighting ships depend on the services of ammunition ships, minesweepers, oilers, repair ships, supply ships, military sea-lift ships, maritime pre-positioning ships, and tugs. Both fighting ships and service ships rely on a shore organization, including naval bases, shipyards, docks, naval air stations, and training stations, for supplies, repairs, training, and other services.
The Navy operates under the Department of the Navy. The Navy has an active strength of about 346,000 men and women. U.S. Navy Reserve forces total about 100,000. The Navy also maintains a Marine Corps, which has an active strength of about 180,000 men and women, and reserve forces numbering about 35,000. In wartime, or by decision of the president, the Coast Guard also operates under the Department of the Navy.
The Navy seal was adopted in 1957. “Anchors Aweigh” (1906) is the Navy’s service song. Blue and gold are the official colors of the Navy.
Life in the Navy
Training a sailor.
The enlisted ranks consist of three grades of seaman, airman, constructionman, hospitalman, or fireman. There are six petty officer grades, from petty officer third class to master chief petty officer. Navy recruits first learn discipline and seamanship at boot camp. Boot camp is intense training that takes place at Recruit Training Command, Naval Station Great Lakes, near Chicago, Illinois. After successful completion of the training course, sailors may attend a trade school, such as those for enginemen, cooks, and electricians. Or they may be assigned directly to a ship or a naval base where they learn their duties and practice their trades.
Sailors take competitive examinations for advancement through the ratings (ranks). Many sailors attend advanced schools. Qualified enlisted men and women who want to pursue a career as an officer can take examinations for admission to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, or to other officer training programs.
Training an officer.
Navy officers are trained at the U.S. Naval Academy or in the following naval programs: (1) the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) for college and university students; (2) Officer Candidate School (OCS) for enlisted personnel and college graduates; and (3) programs to appoint warrant officers and limited-duty officers from within the enlisted ranks.
Doctors, dentists, lawyers, and ministers may be commissioned (placed into active service) with little military training. Officer candidates train at the Officer Development School of Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island.
Naval officers are assigned to one of four divisions: (1) line, (2) staff, (3) limited duty, or (4) warrant. Unrestricted line officers work toward command at sea or manage shore activities. Restricted line officers have specialized jobs, such as engineering, intelligence (information gathering), or public affairs. Staff officers include doctors, dentists, nurses, supply officers, lawyers, and chaplains. Limited-duty or warrant officers are usually appointed from the enlisted ranks as administrative or technical specialists.
During officer training, officer candidates may apply for surface, submarine, aviation, or special warfare duty. After about four years of active duty, they become eligible for many technical postgraduate programs. Senior-ranking officers may take command and strategy courses at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, or at one of the joint service colleges, such as the National War College in Washington, D.C.
A typical day.
Life at sea for sailors, both officers and enlisted men and women, varies with the type of ship on which they serve. Naval ships range from tugboats with a crew of five to giant aircraft carriers with a crew of thousands. Cargo ships spend long periods at sea. Repair ships usually stay in port, but they sometimes sail overseas to support operating forces. A sailor on a submarine gets to know every member of its crew. But on an aircraft carrier, each crew member does a specialized job and may not be well acquainted with all areas of the ship or all crew members.
In peacetime aboard a naval ship, a typical day begins about 6 a.m. At sea, meals are generally served at 6 a.m., 11 a.m., and 5 p.m, with a fourth meal for those working late. These hours may vary to meet operating requirements. The crew musters (assembles) at 7:15 a.m., after breakfast. Practically every crew member on a ship stands watch, or is at a post of duty, during four-, six-, or twelve-hour periods. Each member has a battle station and a post for emergencies.
The Navy tries to make life aboard ship as comfortable and pleasant as possible for sailors who may have to live in limited space for weeks or months at a time without seeing land. Ships generally have a library for the crew, and many have recreation rooms and gym facilities. Sailors aboard most ships may participate in distance-learning programs, taking courses for college credit under the Navy College Program for Afloat College Education (NCPACE). Most ships have on-board televisions. Many ships operate personal laundromats and at least one ship store to provide for the crew’s everyday needs. On large ships, doctors and dentists care for the sailors’ health. When a ship is in port, crew members who are not on duty may be granted liberty (time off ashore).
Careers in the Navy.
A first enlistment may prepare a person for a civilian job or a naval career. An applicant must be a U.S. citizen or a citizen of another country who resides legally in the United States. Applicants must be between the ages of 17 and 39, and must meet the Navy’s physical standards. A man or woman may enlist for four to six years.
Qualified enlisted personnel may advance to chief petty officer in 12 to 14 years. They receive a pay increase with each promotion, and extra pay for length of service. The Navy also pays money for either barracks rooms or housing near the base, and subsistence (food). It gives additional pay for hazardous duty, such as submarine and aviation duty, or for sea duty and duty in some foreign countries. All Navy personnel are eligible for 30 days’ leave (vacation) a year. They are entitled to free medical and dental care, and free hospital and medical care is available to their families. Men and women in the Navy may retire with pay after 20 years’ service.
U.S. Navy operations, ships, and weapons
The U.S. Navy has a wide variety of ships and weapons with which it conducts operations. Some of the ships in the Navy’s fleet operate as part of groups as they conduct specific missions. Aircraft support the fleet as needed. The Navy’s ordnance (weapons) includes bombs, guns, mines, missiles, and torpedoes.
Combat ships
of the U.S. Navy include aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, littoral (near-land) combat ships, submarines, mine warfare ships, and patrol craft. The Navy also operates a number of smaller vessels that escort ships in and out of port and patrol coastlines and inland rivers to defend against threats to the force.
The Navy’s aircraft carriers are its largest warships. They operate as part of carrier strike groups (CSG’s). CSG’s conduct air strikes, serve as a platform for command and control of naval forces, establish air superiority in a theater (area of operation), and provide U.S. presence in the world’s hot spots (areas of conflict). In addition to aircraft carriers, CSG’s also include cruisers, destroyers, and submarines.
Cruisers are multi-mission ships that fire Standard Missiles (SM’s), Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM’s), or Evolved Sea-Sparrow Missiles (ESSM’s). They also have surface fire guns that support troops inland and against targets on the water. The primary mission of cruisers is to provide air defense for the aircraft carrier against enemy fighters, bombers, and missiles. Destroyers fire missiles as well. They can also support air defense, as well as conduct anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.
Various missiles can be used against enemy aircraft, enemy missiles, and targets on land. Different types of Standard Missiles can be used against enemy aircraft and missiles. The SM-3, for example, is designed to engage ballistic missiles in space. Ballistic missiles are missiles that travel through the air in an arc, typically at great speeds over great distances. TLAM’s are cruise missiles used to strike targets on land at distances in excess of 1,350 nautical miles (2,500 kilometers). Cruise missiles are low-flying missiles. ESSM’s are used for close-in defense against enemy missiles.
Cruisers and destroyers are also equipped with side-launched torpedoes; Harpoon anti-surface missiles; and electronic warfare technology to jam (interfere with the electronics of) enemy ships, missiles, and aircraft. All cruisers and most destroyers can support helicopters for reconnaissance (observation), search-and-rescue operations, and anti-submarine warfare. Cruisers and destroyers are equipped with a powerful air radar that connects all the ship’s weapons and sensors. The Navy also operates a class of stealth destroyers known as the Zumwalt-class destroyer. They were origianlly developed to strike land targets but now are used to strike enemy ships.
Littoral combat ships (LCS) battle small surface threats, helicopters, submarines, mines, and a variety of other threats. In 2019, LCS’s began to be outfitted with missiles that can strike large surface ships as well. These missiles have a range of more than 100 nautical miles (180 kilometers).
Surface ships also have a variety of heavy automatic weapons mounted on deck to defend against small boat and terrorist attacks. In addition, they have systems designed to shoot down at close range missiles that have penetrated the outer defenses.
Ballistic missile submarines (SSBN’s) support continuous nuclear deterrent patrols—that is, they carry nuclear weapons so that a nuclear-armed adversary must expect a counter-strike within minutes of launching a missile against the United States or its allies. Guided missile submarines (SSGN’s) are designed to sneak in close to an enemy’s coast and bombard targets ashore with little warning. 
Amphibious ships include assault ships, transport docks, dock landing ships, and command ships. These ships transport Marines and their equipment, and also aircraft. Amphibious assault ships can carry helicopters and planes to support landing troops ashore. Most amphibious ships include what is known as a well deck. A well deck is a large open space that can be flooded to allow boats, vehicles, and landing craft to launch in and out of one end of the ship.
The Navy once had large warships called battleships that bombarded enemy shore positions and attacked enemy ships. But no battleships currently serve in the U.S. Navy.
Auxiliary ships
provide maintenance, fuel, supplies, towing, and other services to warships. There are four main kinds of auxiliary ships: (1) underway replenishment (UNREP) ships, (2) fleet support ships, (3) sealift ships, and (4) special mission ships. Service craft generally are smaller vessels that provide services similar to those of auxiliary ships.
UNREP ships provide fuel, ammunition, food, spare parts, and other materials to warships at sea. UNREP ships transfer cargo to moving ships using lines rigged between the ships. Supplies can also be transferred using helicopters in a vertical replenishment (VERTREP).
Fleet support ships provide maintenance and other services to warships. Rescue and salvage ships offer towing, salvage, diving, firefighting, and heavy lifting capabilities. Submarine tenders provide maintenance for, and deliver supplies to, nuclear attack submarines. Other fleet support ships include tugs and hospital ships.
Sealift ships carry cargo from port to port but cannot land their cargo on beaches. Unlike UNREP ships, they cannot transfer cargo to moving ships. Maritime pre-positioning ships put supplies and equipment into position in preparation for the arrival of Marine Corps expeditionary forces.
Special mission ships support warship development and operations. They include such vessels as surveillance ships, test support ships, ocean surveying ships, high-speed vessels, and ships that lay and repair communication cables.
Naval aviation
enhances the defense of the fleet, joins amphibious attacks, and conducts strikes on ships and shore targets. Navy pilots fly attack, fighter, and special mission planes from carriers and amphibious ships with large decks. Pilots can fly helicopters from carriers and other ships. They also fly shore-based patrol aircraft. Carrier-based aircraft are built to withstand the great stress of take-off and landing. Their wings or helicopter rotor blades can be folded to reduce the area needed for storage.
Navy attack aircraft include the F/A-18 Hornet, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the F-35 Lightning II (also known as the Joint Strike Fighter). Navy aircraft can carry a variety of ordnance (weapons).
Special mission aircraft that operate from carriers include the EA-18G Growler, an electronic warfare plane used to interfere with enemy electronic equipment. The P-8 Poseidon is a land-based antisubmarine warfare plane. The E-2 is an airborne early-warning aircraft that detects air threats at long range.
Naval aircraft are classified by letters and numbers. For example, the F in F/A-18 Hornet means that it is a fighter plane, designed to shoot down other planes. The A means it is used to attack ground targets. The number 18 means it is the 18th model designed for its general type of aircraft. The EA-18G Growler is based on the F/A-18 Hornet design. But the E indicates that it is designed for electronic warfare. Other letters are C, cargo/transport; H, helicopter; K, tanker; O, observation; P, patrol; S, antisubmarine; T, trainer; U, utility; V, vertical or short take-off and landing; and X, research.
Organization of the Navy
The U.S. Navy operates under the Department of the Navy in the Department of Defense. The Department of the Navy consists of the (1) Navy Department, (2) Operating Forces, and (3) Shore Establishment. The secretary of the Navy, a civilian, heads the Department of the Navy under the direction of the secretary of defense. The secretary of the Navy directs the affairs of the Department of the Navy, which include recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training, and mobilizing naval forces.
The Navy Department,
in Washington, D.C., is the central executive authority of the Department of the Navy. The Navy Department sets policy and directs and controls the Operating Forces and Shore Establishment. The Navy Department consists of the Office of the Secretary of the Navy; the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations; and Headquarters, Marine Corps.
The Operating Forces
of the Navy and the Marine Corps consist of several fleets, other seagoing forces, Fleet Marine Forces (expeditionary troops), and other forces as directed by the president or the secretary of the Navy. These forces perform naval operations to carry out U.S. policies and advance U.S. interests.
The U.S. Fleet Forces Command, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, organizes, trains, and equips naval forces for the unified combatant commands of the U.S. military. It is at the top of the administrative chain of command for most naval units. The Fleet Forces Command is directly responsible for the Second Fleet in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Fourth Fleet in the Caribbean and Central and South America. The Fleet Forces Command oversees several subordinate commands, including the Naval Forces Southern Command, the Naval Network Warfare Command, Naval Submarine Forces, Naval Air Forces, Naval Surface Forces, the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command, the First Naval Construction Division, the Navy Warfare Development Command, the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, and the Navy Reserve Force.
Naval Forces Europe and Naval Forces Africa, headquartered in Naples, Italy, directs the operations of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, as well as destroyers based in Rota, Spain. The Naval Forces Central Command, headquartered in Manama, Bahrain, directs the Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The U.S. Pacific Fleet, headquartered in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, directs the Third Fleet, based in San Diego, California, and the Seventh Fleet, based in Japan.
The Naval Special Warfare Command, headquartered in San Diego, prepares SEAL (Sea, Air, and Land) teams and other special forces to carry out unconventional missions. The Operational Test and Evaluation Force, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, tests and evaluates ships, submarines, aircraft, and other equipment and systems. The Military Sealift Command, also headquartered in Norfolk, transports equipment and supplies by sea to U.S. forces worldwide.
The Shore Establishment
provides support to the Operating Forces. The Shore Establishment includes naval bases, which are managed by the Navy Installations Command. A naval base may include a shipyard, a naval station, or a naval air station.
A key part of the Shore Establishment are the systems commands, which design and develop equipment and systems for future use by the Operating Forces. These commands are the Naval Air Systems Command, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, the Naval Sea Systems Command, the Naval Supply Systems Command, and the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. Other Shore Establishment units include the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, the Naval Education and Training Command, the Naval Legal Service Command, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Strategic Systems Programs, and the United States Naval Academy.
The active-duty Navy and reserves.
The active-duty Navy consists of sailors who serve full-time. The Navy Reserve consists of the Ready Reserve, the Standby Reserve, full-time support sailors, and the Retired Reserve.
The Navy Reserve provides trained units and qualified individuals for active duty in time of war, military operations, or national emergency. The Ready Reserve is the core of the Navy Reserve. Its members are ready to be immediately mobilized. Ready reservists may be on active duty or in inactive duty status. Selected reservists are ready reservists who train for at least two days a month and perform two weeks of active duty a year. Standby Reserve and Retired Reserve members are subject to recall in a war or national emergency. But they do not get the amount or regularity of training that selected reservists do. In most cases, they would be mobilized only after selected reservists were called up. They might also be mobilized if their unique skill sets were needed.
The Marine Corps
is a separate military service within the Department of the Navy, but it is not a part of the U.S. Navy. The commandant of the Marine Corps is responsible directly to the secretary of the Navy. The Marine Corps assigns forces to the Navy’s fleets. The Marines have the primary jobs of amphibious warfare and land operations performed in connection with naval campaigns. They can also be assigned to provide security forces that guard naval stations and ships and U.S. embassies in other countries. See Marine Corps, United States.
The Coast Guard
operates under the Department of the Navy in wartime, or by decision of the president. In peacetime, the Coast Guard operates within the Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard provides air-sea rescue services, carries out antisubmarine patrols, and controls and guards shipping in U.S. ports. It also helps to prevent waterfront disasters, to enforce U.S. laws at sea, and to ensure safety at sea. See Coast Guard, United States.
History
The earliest colonial warships
were privately owned vessels called privateers. These vessels usually operated on independent missions (see Privateer ).
The Continental Congress established the Continental Navy in 1775. The Congress set up a Naval Committee and later a Marine Committee to administer naval affairs and to build and equip warships. Several merchant ships were converted into combat vessels. In 1776, Esek Hopkins, the Navy’s first commodore and its first commander in chief, raided Nassau in the Bahama Islands with a fleet of six ships. During the American Revolution (1775-1783), about 60 vessels served in the Continental Navy. Captain John Paul Jones’s badly damaged Bonhomme Richard forced the British vessel Serapis to surrender. Jones uttered the Navy’s famous watchword: “I have not yet begun to fight!”
The Navy ceased operations after the war. In 1785, the last warship was sold. But the need for a fleet soon arose again. Barbary corsairs (sea raiders) off North Africa preyed on American merchant ships and killed or captured American sailors. In 1794, Congress voted to build several frigates—at that time, fast three-masted warships—to fight the corsairs. This force operated under the secretary of war. The launching of the United States in 1797 marked the rebirth of the U.S. Navy.
Undeclared war with France.
In the summer of 1796, the United States and France had reached a state of undeclared war. France and Britain (later also called the United Kingdom) were at war with each other at this time. The French treated U.S. merchant sailors like British subjects and, by 1798, had seized more than 300 U.S. merchant ships. That year, Congress created a Navy Department under a secretary of the Navy. The 44-gun frigates Constitution and United States and the 36-gun Constellation formed the basis of a new fleet that had grown to about 50 ships by 1801. Many battles raged between U.S. and French ships. The undeclared war with the United States ended after Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in France in 1799.
The War of 1812 (1812-1815).
The United Kingdom declared a blockade of France when war broke out in 1803. It seized American ships that violated the blockade, and imprisoned their seamen. The U.S. Navy had only about 16 warships when the War of 1812 began.
In early victories, the Constitution captured and destroyed the British ships Guerriere and Java, and the United States captured the Macedonian. The British Shannon captured the American Chesapeake. Captain James Lawrence of the Chesapeake issued as his dying command: “Don’t give up the ship!” The British clamped a tight blockade on American ports, but American privateers continued to operate. They captured more than 1,300 enemy vessels and damaged British overseas trade. American ships won decisive victories on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain. See War of 1812.
In the Mexican War (1846-1848), the Navy conducted amphibious operations and blockaded ports along Mexico’s Gulf and Pacific coasts.
The American Civil War (1861-1865)
found the Union Navy with only 42 ships. Within a month after the war began on April 12, 1861, the Navy had blockaded the Southern States from Virginia to the Rio Grande to keep them from exporting cotton and importing supplies. The Confederacy countered with naval commerce raiders and blockade runners, which were operated independently. In March 1862, the first battle between ironclad ships occurred at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The clash between the Confederate Virginia (Merrimack) and the Union Monitor ended in a draw. But it introduced a new kind of naval warfare (see Monitor and Merrimack ).
Navy gunboats helped Union forces control the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Mississippi rivers, which led to the siege and capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1863. See Civil War, American (The Vicksburg campaign) .
In August 1864, Rear Admiral David G. Farragut ran his fleet past defending forts at Mobile Bay, Alabama, and forced a Confederate fleet in the harbor to surrender. As Farragut entered the bay, he reportedly shouted, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”
The Navy played an important role during the Civil War. It was essential to the success of the land armies, and showed the powerful effect of control of the seas. The Union Navy came out of the war as the largest and most powerful naval force in the world. It had more than 670 ships and 57,000 sailors. See Civil War, American .
The Spanish-American War (1898)
saw two major naval battles. On May 1, Commodore George Dewey’s squadron steamed through the entrance to Manila Bay in the Philippines. As his flagship Olympia approached the Spanish fleet off Cavite, he gave the historic command: “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley.” The battle ended with the 10-ship enemy fleet destroyed or burning. On July 3, Commodore Winfield S. Schley’s warships defeated a Spanish fleet outside Santiago harbor in Cuba. See Maine ; Spanish-American War.
“The Great White Fleet.”
A force of 16 battleships and 4 destroyers of the Atlantic Fleet began a 14-month world cruise in 1907. It was called “the Great White Fleet” because the ships had been painted white. The 46,000-mile (74,000-kilometer) cruise proved that the Navy could easily shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The Navy took other major steps in the early 1900’s. In 1915, it established the office of chief of naval operations. Admiral William S. Benson was the first to fill this position. Naval aviation was born during this same period. In 1911, the Navy purchased its first airplane. Shortly before, on Nov. 14, 1910, Eugene Ely had made the first shipboard take-off from a warship, the cruiser Birmingham. By 1914, the Navy had established its first permanent naval air station at Pensacola, Florida, and in 1922, it commissioned its first aircraft carrier, the Langley.
World War I (1914-1918)
began for U.S. combat forces on May 4, 1917, when a destroyer division docked in Ireland for duty with the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. In April, Rear Admiral William S. Sims had arrived in London to command U.S. Naval Forces in European waters. The British predicted an Allied defeat in six months unless the German submarine attacks could be stopped. The Allied navies began convoys and assigned destroyers and submarine chasers to the Atlantic.
The Navy developed new types of mines and laid a mine barrage (field) in the North Sea. It planted about 56,000 mines in the largest mining operation in history. The Navy transported more than 2 million American soldiers across the Atlantic Ocean without a single loss of life. Naval aviation expanded rapidly with the establishment of bases in Europe. Navy pilots flew reconnaissance (observation), antisubmarine, and bombing missions. The Navy mounted five 14-inch (36-centimeter) guns on railroad cars for strategic shelling of German railways and supply depots in 1918. See World War I.
Women first served in the Navy during World War I. They performed yeoman (clerical and secretarial) duties to release enlisted men for active duty at sea.
After World War I, the Navy entered a period of decline. It scrapped, sank, or demilitarized about 2 million tons of ships, including 31 major warships, according to a treaty signed at the Washington Conference of 1921 and 1922 (see Arms control ). By the 1930’s, the United States had again started building ships. It planned a two-ocean Navy.
World War II (1939-1945).
The Japanese attack against the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, brought the United States into World War II. Nearly four years later, the war ended with surrender ceremonies held aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan.
The Navy had begun defense activities as early as 1939. The destroyer Reuben James became the Navy’s first casualty of the undeclared war in the Atlantic when it was sunk by a German submarine on Oct. 31, 1941.
The Navy recovered quickly from its losses at Pearl Harbor. It salvaged and repaired many of the damaged or sunken ships. Admiral Ernest J. King became commander in chief of the United States Fleet, and later also served as chief of naval operations. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz took command of the Pacific Fleet, and Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll commanded the Atlantic Fleet. By June 1942, the Navy’s decisive victory in the Battle of Midway marked the end of Japanese expansion in World War II. When the war ended, the Navy had the most powerful fleet up to that time. It had 3,400,000 men and women and 2,500 ships, including 24 battleships, 35 aircraft carriers, 77 escort carriers, 92 cruisers, 501 destroyers, 406 destroyer escorts, and 262 submarines. See World War II.
In 1942, during World War II, Congress authorized the establishment of the Women’s Reserve, a branch of the United States Navy Reserve. Navy women became known as WAVES, the abbreviation for the full name of this organization, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. Mildred H. McAfee, a distinguished educator, was the first director of the WAVES (see McAfee, Mildred Helen ). In 1948, women officially became a permanent part of the Regular Navy and the Navy Reserve.
The Korean War (1950-1953)
involved naval forces almost immediately after the conflict began. Aircraft carriers and troop transports played roles in holding the Busan (also called Pusan) perimeter during the first three months of the war. On Sept. 15, 1950, an amphibious landing at Incheon (also called Inchon) helped reverse the course of the war. A feature of the ground battles was the success of naval and Marine close air support, with aircraft and infantry operations closely coordinated. See Korean War.
The Vietnam War (1957-1975).
The U.S. Navy entered combat in South Vietnam in 1964. The Seventh Fleet launched air strikes from aircraft carriers and bombarded enemy forces and positions ashore from cruisers, destroyers, and the battleship New Jersey. The Navy’s Coastal Surveillance Force, River Patrol Force, and Riverine Assault Force operated along the coast and on rivers of South Vietnam. By March 29, 1973, the Navy had turned its responsibilities in Vietnam over to the South Vietnamese armed forces. See Vietnam War.
The Persian Gulf War of 1991.
In August 1990, the United States sent naval forces to the Persian Gulf after Iraq invaded Kuwait. In January 1991, war broke out between Iraq and a multinational force led by the United States. United States Navy planes conducted strikes against Iraqi troops and military installations. The battleships Wisconsin and Missouri bombarded Iraqi targets ashore. During the brief ground war, fought in late February, the threat of an amphibious landing of U.S. Marines in Kuwait kept as many as six Iraqi divisions pinned down. See Persian Gulf War of 1991 .
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fighters and helicopters based on Navy carriers flew hundreds of missions in the Iraq War (2003-2011), which ended the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Navy ships and submarines also launched hundreds of missiles at Iraqi targets. Navy SEALs fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan, often searching for enemy fighters and conducting small-unit attacks and reconnaissance missions. Navy construction battalions built U.S. military facilities and helped with civilian reconstruction. In 2011, a team of Navy SEALs in Pakistan killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qa`ida network responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Navy also regularly provided air support in the Afghanistan War (2001-2021).
The nuclear age Navy.
In 1948, the U.S. Navy and the Atomic Energy Commission established a joint program to develop nuclear-powered submarines. Unlike conventional submarines, which burn fuel oil, nuclear submarines do not require air for combustion. They can thus travel long distances underwater. In 1954, the Navy commissioned the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus. In 1981, the Navy commissioned the Ohio, the first nuclear submarine armed with powerful Trident missiles. Today, the Navy has about 70 nuclear submarines.
The U.S. Navy also developed nuclear-powered surface ships, which can steam at high speed for long distances without refueling. Its first nuclear surface ships, the cruiser Long Beach and the aircraft carrier Enterprise, were commissioned in 1961. Today, more than 40 percent of the Navy’s fighting vessels are nuclear-powered.
In 1976, the lead ship of the Tarawa class of amphibious warfare ships was commissioned. This class of vessel transports landing craft and provides a flight deck for helicopters and vertical/short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft. In 1991, the Navy commissioned the lead ship of the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers, with weapons for fighting surface ships, submarines, and aircraft. The Navy decommissioned the last of its battleships in 1992. By that time, they had reached the end of their useful service life and proved too expensive to upgrade with the latest technology. In 1997, the Seawolf class of nuclear-powered attack submarines entered service. The first of the Virginia class submarines was commissioned in 2004. This class of submarines is still in production.
