U.S. Sea Power WW II to the Present

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U.S. Sea PowerWW II to the Present
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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.

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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.

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Japanese Attack on Pearl HarborDecember 7, 1941

• Torpedo planes attack "Battleship Row" at about
  0800
• on 7 December, seen from a Japanese aircraft.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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Battle of Leyte GulfOctober 22-26, 1944

• The Japanese "Center Force" leaves Brunei Bay,
  Borneo, on 22 October 1944, en route to the
  Philippines.

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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 904 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
  922. Following a few brief remarks by MacArthur,
  the ceremonies concluded at 925.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Vietnam -Naval Gunfire Support

• Coast Guard Cutter MENDOTA using
• her 5"/38 caliber gun to hit enemy targets. 

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Vietnam Riverine Warfare

• The Great strategic and economic importance of
  South Vietnams 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 Vietnams population
  lived, constituted the countrys 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.

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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

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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.

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Operation Desert Storm - 1991

• Tomahawk cruise missile from USS Wisconsin
  1/18/91 (AP)

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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.

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Operation Iraqi Freedom2003 - Ongoing

• Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Cheyenne
  (SSN 773), one of the Navys first ships to
  launch a Tomahawk cruise missile in Operation
  Iraqi Freedom

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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/VietnamPhotoIn
  dex_F.html
• http//www.history.navy.mil/faqs/stream/faq45-25.h
  tm
• http//www.navsource.org/archives/02/34.htm
• http//www.history.navy.mil/wars/dstorm/
• http//www.historyguy.com/GulfWar2.html