![]() With the international coalition’s ground operations set to begin in early 1991, SEAL operators planted explosives on the coast that, when detonated, convinced the Iraqi defenders that an amphibious landing was imminent. During the buildup to the first Gulf War, SEALs performed key reconnaissance along the Kuwaiti coastline. military-faced their first large-scale conflict since Vietnam. When Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the Navy SEALs-along with the rest of the U.S. Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm–1991 Eventually, several SEAL platoons tracked down and surrounded Noriega, who had taken refuge in the Vatican embassy in Panama City, before he ultimately surrendered on January 3, 1990. A SEAL mission to disable Noriega’s Learjet at Paitilla Airfield to prevent him from escaping succeeded at a heavy cost, as four SEALs were killed and eight wounded. In December 1989, President George Bush launched Operation Just Cause, aimed at deposing Noriega and bringing him to justice. Not only had the country’s president, Manuel Noriega, been indicted on drug trafficking charges in the United States, but his security forces were accused of harassing American citizens living in Panama. Six years after the invasion of Grenada, the SEALs were called into action in another Caribbean nation: Panama. Capture and arrest of Manuel Noriega–1989 After destroying the tower and fighting their way to the water, they managed to swim to the open sea, where they were picked up several hours later by a reconnaissance plane. One group of SEALs tasked with capturing the island’s only radio tower narrowly avoided disaster after communication failures left them holed up and under heavy attack from Cuban and Grenadian forces. SEALs provided pre-assault reconnaissance during the invasion and successfully rescued and evacuated Sir Paul Scoon, Grenada’s governor general, who had been placed on house arrest after he invited the United States and other Caribbean nations to intervene militarily. Operation Urgent Fury, as it was officially known, marked the first time Navy SEALs had seen combat since Vietnam. forces to invade the tiny Caribbean island nation and overthrow its new hard-line communist government. ![]() Growing tensions between the United States and Grenada boiled over in late 1983 when President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. The Viet Cong dubbed the fearsome SEALs the “men with green faces” for the camouflage face paint they favored. They often operated at night, deploying from boats and helicopters to carry out short direct-action missions like ambushes, hit-and-run raids, personnel recovery, intelligence collection and reconnaissance patrols. Later in the conflict, 12-men SEAL platoons rotated in and out of deployment in South Vietnam, honing their battle skills and launching their reputation as an elite special ops force. Vietnam War–1965-72ĭuring the Vietnam War, the newly created SEAL teams-called SEALs for their ability to operate in the environments of Sea, Air and Land-were initially tasked with training indigenous South Vietnamese forces to operate as maritime commandos. 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. 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. Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) performed reconnaissance, surveyed and cleared the beaches for the landing of some 450,000 U.S. 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. military turned to the Navy’s special operations forces to gather intelligence and navigate the islands of the South Pacific ahead of Allied invasions. Invasion of Okinawa–1945Īfter the loss of more than 3,000 Marines in the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943, the U.S. This 52 percent casualty rate represented the bloodiest single day in the history of Naval Special Warfare. 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. The NCDUs at Omaha Beach were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, one of only three presented for military actions at 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. 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.
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