Navy SEALs: 10 Key Missions
From the origins of Naval Special Warfare during World War II to the killing of Osama bin Laden, explore 10 key events and operations in the history of the Navy SEALs.
D-Day Landings – 1944
On June 6, 1944, some 175 members of Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs)— predecessors of the Navy SEALS–were among the first invading forces to arrive on the beaches of Normandy. Approaching under heavy German fire, the demolitionists used explosives to clear the way for the massive invasion of some 5,000 vessels, 11,000 planes and more than 150,000 Allied soldiers and sailors. The NCDUs at Omaha Beach were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, one of only three presented for military actions at Normandy. Of the NCDU personnel on Omaha and Utah Beaches, a total of 37 were killed and 71 wounded; all casualties were the result of enemy action, not mishandling of the explosives. This 52 percent casualty rate represented the bloodiest single day in the history of Naval Special Warfare.
Invasion of Okinawa – 1945
After the loss of more than 3,000 Marines in the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943, the U.S. military turned to the Navy’s special operations forces to gather intelligence and navigate the islands of the South Pacific ahead of Allied invasions. Before the invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the crucial last step in the Allies’ island-hopping campaign toward mainland Japan, nearly 1,000 members of the U.S. Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) performed reconnaissance, surveyed and cleared the beaches for the landing of some 450,000 U.S. Army and Marine forces. In all, some 3,500 UDT “frogmen” served during World War II, taking part in almost every major amphibious operation in the Pacific; a total of 83 were killed. The UDTs were one of the most heavily decorated combat units in the war, earning 750 Bronze Stars, 150 Silver Stars, one Navy Cross and several Presidential Unit Citations.
Vietnam War – 1965-72
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/navy-seals-10-key-missions Access Date
February 21, 2017
