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U.S. Sea Power WW II to the Present

U.S. Sea Power WW II to the Present. In this lesson, we will view photos of key U.S. Navy actions from World War II to the present day. Advance the slides one by one by clicking your mouse button. Read the short summary preceding each slide. View the slide.

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U.S. Sea Power WW II to the Present

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  1. U.S. Sea PowerWW II to the Present

  2. In this lesson, we will view photos of key U.S. Navy actions from World War II to the present day • Advance the slides one by one by clicking your mouse button. • Read the short summary preceding each slide. • View the slide. • At the end of the presentation, there will be a short exercise in the classroom to test your knowledge of the subject.

  3. World War II Begins • The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.

  4. Japanese Attack on Pearl HarborDecember 7, 1941 Torpedo planes attack "Battleship Row" at about 0800 on 7 December, seen from a Japanese aircraft.

  5. Battle of Midway • The Battle of Midway, fought over and near the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll, represents the strategic high water mark of Japan's Pacific Ocean war. Prior to this action, Japan possessed general naval superiority over the United States and could usually choose where and when to attack. After Midway, the two opposing fleets were essentially equals, and the United States soon took the offensive. • Japanese Combined Fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto moved on Midway in an effort to draw out and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier striking forces, which had embarrassed the Japanese Navy in the mid-April Doolittle Raid on Japan's home islands and at the Battle of Coral Sea in early May. He planned to quickly knock down Midway's defenses, follow up with an invasion of the atoll's two small islands and establish a Japanese air base there. He expected the U.S. carriers to come out and fight, but to arrive too late to save Midway and in insufficient strength to avoid defeat by his own well-tested carrier air power. • Yamamoto's intended surprise was thwarted by superior American communications intelligence, which deduced his scheme well before battle was joined. This allowed Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, to establish an ambush by having his carriers ready and waiting for the Japanese. On 4 June 1942, in the second of the Pacific War's great carrier battles, the trap was sprung. The perseverance, sacrifice and skill of U.S. Navy aviators, plus a great deal of good luck on the American side, cost Japan four irreplaceable fleet carriers, while only one of the three U.S. carriers present was lost. The base at Midway, though damaged by Japanese air attack, remained operational and later became a vital component in the American trans-Pacific offensive.

  6. Battle of MidwayJune 4, 1942 USS Enterprise (CV-6) steaming at high speed at about 0725 hrs, 4 June 1942, seen from USS Pensacola (CA-24).

  7. Battle of Leyte Gulf • On 20 October 1944, U.S. Forces landed on the Island of Leyte, the first of the Japanese-held Philippine Islands to be invaded. In response, the Japanese Navy activated the complex "Sho-Go" Operation, in which several different surface and air forces would converge on the Philippines to try and drive off the Americans. As part of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's Center Force, Yamato moved up to Brunei Bay, Borneo, to refuel and then steamed toward the operational area in company with four other battleships, ten heavy cruisers and numerous other warships. On 23 October, while west of the Philippines, the Center Force was attacked by the U.S. submarines Darter (SS-227) and Dace (SS-247). Three heavy cruisers were torpedoed and two sunk, including Kurita's flagship, Atago. The Admiral then moved to Yamato, which served as his flagship for the rest of the operation. • The next day, 24 October, as the Center Force steamed through the Philippines' central Sibuyan Sea, it was repeatedly attacked by planes from U.S. aircraft carriers. Battleship Musashi was sunk and a heavy cruiser forced to retire. Yamato and several other ships were hit but remained battleworthy. The Americans thought the entire Center Force had retreated, but it transited the San Bernardino Strait under cover of darkness and entered the Pacific.

  8. Battle of Leyte Gulf - continued • In the morning of 25 October, while off Samar, Kurita's Center Force encountered a U.S. Navy escort aircraft carrier task group. In a long running battle, in which Yamato fired her big guns at enemy ships for the only time in her career, one U.S. carrier and three destroyers were sunk. Fiercely opposed by the escort carriers' planes and the destroyers' guns and torpedoes, Vice Admiral Kurita lost three heavy cruisers, and his nerve. Though the way was almost clear to move onward to Leyte Gulf, where a climactic battleship gunnery duel would have certainly resulted, he ordered his force to withdraw and return to Brunei Bay. That ended Yamato's participation in the last great naval battle of World War II, and marked the end of the Japanese Fleet as a major threat to Allied offensive operations in the Western Pacific.

  9. Battle of Leyte GulfOctober 22-26, 1944 The Japanese "Center Force" leaves Brunei Bay, Borneo, on 22 October 1944, en route to the Philippines.

  10. Japanese Surrender • After finishing his introductory statement General MacArthur directed the representatives of Japan to sign the two Instruments of Surrender, one each for the Allied and Japanese governments. At 9:04 AM, Foreign Minister Shigemitsu signed, followed two minutes later by General Umezu. General MacArthur then led the Allied delegations in signing, first Fleet Admiral Nimitz as United States Representative, then the representatives of China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, The Netherlands and New Zealand. All signatures were in place by 9:22. Following a few brief remarks by MacArthur, the ceremonies concluded at 9:25.

  11. Japanese Surrender onboard USS MISSOURI September 2, 1945 General Yoshijiro Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff, signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, on board USS Missouri (BB-63), 2 September 1945

  12. Korean War – Inchon Landing • On 15 September 1950, after hurling itself fruitlessly against the Pusan Perimeter for nearly a month and a half, the weakened North Korean army was suddenly confronted with a grave threat in its rear. U.S. Marines had landed at the western port city of Inchon, near Seoul, and were poised to move inland to retake the capital and decisively cut the already tenuous North Korean supply lines. • This daring amphibious operation was conceived by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Though strategically tempting, Inchon was a tactically challenging amphibious target, with long approaches through shallow channels, poor beaches and a tidal range that restricted landing operations to a few hours a day. It took all of MacArthur's unparalleled powers of persuasion to sell his concept to doubting Army, Navy and Marine Corps commanders.

  13. Inchon Landing - continued • Forces gathered for the Inchon invasion included the First Marine Division, the Army's Seventh Infantry Division, some South Korean units, virtually every available amphibious ship, and dozens of other Navy warships. Most of the Marines had recently arrived from the U.S., while the rest were withdrawn from the Pusan Perimeter defenses. • Preliminary naval gunfire and air bombardment began on 13 September. The 1st and 5th Marines went ashore on the morning of the 15th. Resistance and casualties were modest, and initial objectives were quickly secured. Over the next several days, as supplies and troops poured ashore at Inchon, the Marines moved relentlessly toward Seoul. Kimpo airfield was taken on 17 September and was in use to support operations two days later. On 29 September, after days of hard street fighting, Seoul was returned to the South Korean government.

  14. Landing at InchonSeptember 15, 1950 LCVPs from USS Union (AKA-106) circle in the transport area off Inchon, prior to going to the line of departure on the first day of landings, 15 September 1950

  15. Vietnam – Overview • Vietnam Service 1962-1973 From the time that United States' assistance to the Republic of South Vietnam was confined to an advisory status through the period of major combat actions, the varied and extensive roles of the U.S. Navy were crucial to the overall military effort in Southeast Asia. After early participation by the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the detection of infiltration by sea from the north, a Coastal Surveillance Force, MARKET TIME., conducted inshore operations as well as offshore patrols to augment the efforts of the Vietnamese Navy. Mobility and the endurance sustained by underway replenishment forces resulted in maximum use of Seventh Fleet carriers for retaliatory raids, for strikes in support of troops ashore, and for attacks against the enemy lines of communication. Naval air operations were of particular importance in the days before adequate airfields could be built ashore, and the ability of task forces to operate in nearby Tonkin Gulf permitted effective and efficient air operations against targets in North Vietnam.

  16. Vietnam Overview - continued The Amphibious Force of the Seventh Fleet projected ashore the first organized ground forces, U.S. Marines, at Danang in March 1965, and carried out many later landings. Destroyers, cruisers, and battleship New Jersey added the weight of their gunfire in support of forces ashore, and conducted operations against the logistic lines of the enemy along the coast of North Vietnam. The Amphibious Command drew upon its Underwater Demolition Team capability to develop SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Teams which conducted operations against Viet Cong guerrillas. The River Patrol Force, GAME WARDEN, extended the control of waterways in the Mekong Delta and other areas of the Republic. The joint Navy-Army operations of the Mobile Riverine Force captured base areas and defeated enemy concentrations. Elements of the Coastal Surveillance, River Patrol, and Mobile Riverine Forces were combined into operation SEA LORDS to interdict infiltration routes from Cambodia into the Mekong Delta, to control vital Delta waterways, and to harass the enemy in his base areas. Essential support to in country forces was provided by the Service Force's naval support activities and Seabees.

  17. Vietnam Overview - Conclusion Sea lines of logistics were a key to the defense of the northern provinces. The valiant naval medical personnel with the Marines, in hospitals and in hospital ships, saved lives and healed the wounded with unprecedented success. Salvage forces recovered ships in distress and cleared waterways. From across the seas came the vast quantity of supplies required to fight this major war. All but a small percentage of the tonnage was delivered by ships under the Navy's Military Sealift Command. After years of negotiations from 1968 to 1973, the Paris Agreement of January 1973 between the U.S., South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the National Liberation Front provided that the prisoners of war would be returned and that the North Vietnam military and all U.S. military personnel had to be out of South Vietnam by 29 March 1973, except for U. S. embassy personnel.

  18. Vietnam – Aircraft Carrier Operations M-117, 500-pound and 1000-pound bombs line the carrier's flight deck during Vietnam War combat operations in the South China Sea, 21 August 1966. Photographed by PHAA C.B. Vesper. Planes parked nearby include A-4, F-8 and A-1 types

  19. Vietnam -Naval Gunfire Support Coast Guard Cutter MENDOTA using her 5"/38 caliber gun to hit enemy targets. 

  20. Vietnam – Riverine Warfare • The Great strategic and economic importance of South Vietnam’s extensive inland waterways made it clear from the beginning of the war that the Navy would be in the front rank of the allied forces laced by 3,000 nautical miles of rivers, canals, and smaller streams. • The fertile Mekong Delta south of Saigon, where the largest segment of South Vietnam’s population lived, constituted the country’s rice bowl. • Northward along the coast to the DMZ, sizable rivers stretched inland past vital population centers such as Hue. • Throughout the country the road and rail system was rudimentary while the waterways provided ready access to the most important resources. • The side that controlled the rivers and canals controlled the Heart of South Vietnam.

  21. Vietnam – Riverine Warfare The Brown Water Navy in Vietnam consisted mainly three major task forces. Within these groups were many and varied river craft used to control the main waterways of Vietnam

  22. Operation Desert Storm • The significance of the Navy's role in Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM is clear. Forward deployed naval forces provided protection for early introduction of land-based ground and air assets, and may well have deterred further aggression by Iraq. • Maritime superiority and unchallenged control of the sea enabled the safe and timely delivery of equipment, supplies and spare parts necessary to support the allied campaign. • Interdiction of Iraqi seaborne trade, an ongoing operation, cut enemy resupply, dampened their will to fight and significantly impacted Iraq's economic health. • More than 90% of material to support the campaign was delivered by sealift, and the majority of medical assets in the early months were provided by Navy. • The presence of Middle East Force ships deterred Iraqi mine laying in the southern Persian Gulf. • Naval aviation complemented allied air operations, added flexibility to the air campaign and deterred reintroduction of Iraqi aircraft from Iran into the conflict. • Tomahawk cruise missiles took out heavily defended targets in Iraq and significantly degraded enemy air defenses.

  23. Operation Desert Storm - 1991 Tomahawk cruise missile from USS Wisconsin 1/18/91 (AP)

  24. Operation Iraqi Freedom • On March 19, 2003, American and British forces began the Third Persian Gulf War, a conflict which may become popularly known as "Gulf War 2" or the "Second Iraq War," or some other designation. The U.S. government already calls this conflict "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Regardless of what it is called, this conflict is by far the first truly major war of the 21st Century. While considered by many to be another part of the "War on Terror," it is in many ways separate and unique in its own right.

  25. Operation Iraqi Freedom2003 - Ongoing Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Cheyenne (SSN 773), one of the Navy’s first ships to launch a Tomahawk cruise missile in Operation Iraqi Freedom

  26. Credits • http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm • http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/mid-6.htm • http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/midway.htm • http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-xz/yamato-k.htm • http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/japansur/js-8g.htm • http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/japansur/js-8g.htm • http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/kowar/50-unof/inchon.htm • http://www.mrfa.org/tf116.htm • http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/34.htm • http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/VietnamPhotoIndex_F.html • http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/stream/faq45-25.htm • http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/34.htm • http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/dstorm/ • http://www.historyguy.com/GulfWar2.html

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