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U.S. Sea Power WW II to the Present

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Title: U.S. Sea Power WW II to the Present

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 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.

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 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.

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 Navys first ships to
launch a Tomahawk cruise missile in Operation
Iraqi Freedom

26
Credits