The History of the United States Navy

Begin with an overview of the British Royal Navy at the time of US independence. Learn about the British ships-of-the-line, including their military technology and procedures during engagements. Visualize the lives of naval personnel, both officers and sailors, and the severe hardships of life at sea. Note how the early American naval system was modeled on the British system.

Take account of the three arms of sea power on the American side during the American Revolution. Follow the first American naval shipbuilding at Lake Champlain, the birth of the Continental Navy, and the exploits of John Paul Jones. Then, observe the role in the conflict of privateering against British merchant ships, and the French Navy’s assistance in undermining the British war effort.

Trace the disputes for and against establishing a standing US naval force. Then, learn about the threats against American merchant ships by both Barbary Coast corsairs and the French, leading to the “Quasi War” with France in the Caribbean and the creation of the Department of the Navy. Witness the ensuing American naval action in Tripoli, and the events of the first Barbary War.

Investigate the economic and political conflicts that led the United States to declare war on Britain in 1812. In the wake of the British blockade of the US coast, track the frigate duels that gave the United States its victories over the British. Then, study the most strategically significant naval battles of the war, on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, and their impact on the war’s outcome.

One of the US Navy’s first tasks was combatting piracy on the high seas. Following the War of 1812, witness the Navy’s actions in North Africa to subdue pirate attacks on US merchant ships. Then, follow US naval campaigns against privateering and piracy in the Caribbean and South Asia. Finally, learn about the Navy’s involvement in ending the African slave trade.

The US Navy became a global force through its actions in the first half of the 19th century. Track the Navy’s four-year scientific expedition to find and chart new islands, circumnavigating the Earth. Take account of significant naval episodes in the Mexican-American War. In the new era of steam warships, trace the US mission to open trade with Japan, and the founding of the US Naval Academy.

The Civil War brought new technology to naval warfare. Picture the battle of the USS Merrimack and the USS Monitor, the conflict’s first ironclad warships. Investigate propeller-driven steam warships, and new naval firepower, larger guns with far greater range and accuracy. Witness the Union’s naval blockade of the South, and Confederate innovations of underwater mines and the submarine.

Learn how control of the western rivers played a critical role in the Civil War. Begin with the Union’s building of ironclad gunboats, and their assaults on Confederate river forts and role in the battle at Shiloh. Note how the Navy and Army worked together. Then, follow the Union naval conquest of Confederate defenses below New Orleans, and the capture of Vicksburg.

As the Civil War drew on, Confederate vessels slipping through the North’s naval blockade were a sore point for the Union war effort. Trace the Navy’s dramatic campaign to capture the forts used by blockade-runners. Study the lengthy effort to take Charleston, South Carolina, the longest military siege in American history, followed by intense engagements at forts in Mobile and Wilmington.

Witness the renaissance of the US Navy in the 1890s, as a substantial, modernized fleet and a standing force capable of responding to crises. See how the Cuban rebellion against Spain in 1895 triggered events leading to the Spanish declaration of war on the United States. Relive two major US naval victories in the war, at Manila and Santiago, Cuba, leaving the US Navy a global naval power.

Take the measure of the battleship as the dominant naval warship between about 1890 and 1940. Study their design, firepower, and dramatically increasing proportions. Under Teddy Roosevelt, observe the use of the Navy as a tool of diplomacy, and the ensuing multi-country naval arms race. During World War I, track the Navy’s critical role in protecting Allied convoys from German U-boats.

Delve into key events affecting the US Navy between the world wars, including sweeping naval arms reduction agreements, the emergence of the aircraft carrier, and the US Marines’ development of amphibious assault operations. Learn how US relations with Japan deteriorated, and how the United States dramatically expanded its navy just as Germany was allowed to rebuild theirs under Hitler.

Follow the deployment of US aircraft carriers in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor and see how these carriers became the dominant naval weapon of the war. Observe how carriers worked with other ships and the aircraft they hosted. Witness the key events of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first fought entirely with carrier-based aircraft, the pivotal Battle of Midway, and more.

For three years, German U-boats (submarines) fought to destroy Britain’s maritime supply line. Chart the severe losses of ships to U-boats, and the Allied convoys throughout the Atlantic region that worked to counteract them. Grasp the roles of codebreaking operations, radar, and American industrial productivity in winning what was arguably the most consequential naval engagement of the war.

Visualize the procedures and logistics of amphibious naval operations, which became a major aspect of war in World War II. Begin with the US invasion of the Pacific island of Guadalcanal, a six-month ordeal on land and sea. Then, study key amphibious assaults on the island of Betio, the Marshall Islands, and the D-Day invasion of Normandy—the largest amphibious operation in world history.

The US Navy ended the war as the greatest maritime power in world history. In the Pacific Theater, trace the monumental battle of Saipan, a major turning point. Then, study the dramatic American recapture of the Philippines, and the months-long US invasion of Okinawa, leading to the final defeat of Japan’s Navy, the deployment of the atomic bomb, and the unconditional surrender of Japan.

Following World War II, take stock of integral changes in US naval operations. Grasp how the Cold War and the creation of NATO brought new, global defense responsibilities for the Navy. With the advent of nuclear weaponry, examine the Navy’s key role in deterrence through its nuclear-armed submarines. Finally, learn about the historic ending of racial segregation in the military.

The US Navy was called into action in 1950 in the first aggressive move of the Cold War. Survey the events that led to war in Korea, and the US and United Nations’ response to the invasion of South Korea by the North’s armies. Observe how General MacArthur’s risky landing at Incheon reversed the war’s dynamic, and how strategic support from the Navy and Marines aided in repelling the invaders.

From the early 1950s to the mid-1960s, the US Navy often acted as a global peacekeeper. Follow the events of crises in the Mediterranean, Lebanon, and Taiwan, and the Navy’s role in resolving conflicts without violence. Then, meet the extraordinary Hyman Rickover, who oversaw the development of the Navy’s nuclear-powered forces, and relive the legendary Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Though the Vietnam War was largely a land war, the Navy played a distinct role in the conflict. Learn how US naval action with the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin brought the United States formally into the war. Trace the Navy’s key roles in the war, from tactical air support for ground troops to impeding enemy supply vessels along the coast and critical operations in the Mekong Delta.

The era of the Civil Rights movement exposed racial inequities within the Navy, leading to violent confrontations on ships. Examine naval reforms under Admiral Elmo Zumwalt that sought to address both racial and gender discrimination. Then, observe the expansion of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan, and its intervention in political conflicts on the island of Grenada, and later in Libya.

In the late 20th century, the US Navy operated in a new and dangerous world, fraught with ambiguous political relationships, as well as highly sophisticated weaponry. Examine conditions within the Middle East that led to attacks on American ships during the Iran/Iraq War and the Six-Days War. See how tensions with Iran resulted in the largest surface naval battle since World War II.

At the turn of the 21st century, new conflicts required the US Navy to reassess its role in the post-Soviet world. Track the Navy’s important work in the air campaign of the Gulf War of 1990, and its logistical roles during the 2003 war against Iraq. Learn also about the Navy’s peacetime operations, in areas such as the suppression of piracy and drug trafficking, and humanitarian aid.

Review the complex history of China over the last century, and the parameters of China’s territorial claims to Taiwan and other neighboring islands, which underlie a current rivalry at sea between the Chinese and US navies. Compare the US and Chinese naval forces, factored against China’s present naval buildup, and assess the potential for future conflicts in the China seas and beyond.