Today's U.S. Navy
special warfare operators trace their origins to various units formed during
World War II, including the
Scouts and Raiders, Naval Combat Demolition Units,
Office of Strategic Services Operational Swimmers, Underwater Demolition Teams, and
Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons. In the Vietnam era, the Navy's special units included separate Underwater Demolition Teams (the successors to Navy Combat Demolition Units) and SEAL teams (successors to Scouts and Raiders). In 1983, the Underwater Demolition Teams were merged into the SEAL teams. A detailed history of Naval Special Warfare, including writings by members who have served in the various NSW units, is available at the
National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum website, while the facility itself has an extensive collection of related artifacts on display.
World War II By the time the United States became involved in
World War II,
Adolf Hitler and the
Axis forces had control over a large portion of
Europe, Asia and
North Africa. If the Allied forces were to stand a chance, there would have to be several full-scale landings. The U.S. Navy decided that to do the job right required sending in their own. They needed men to reconnoiter the landing beaches, take note of obstacles and defenses and ultimately guide the landing forces in. Later, during the war, the Army Engineers passed down demolition jobs to the U.S. Navy. They were to clear any obstacles and/or defenses in the nearshore area, beginning a tradition that continues today.
Scouts and Raiders The Navy Scouts and Raiders were created before the Navy Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs). The Scouts and Raiders were first formed 15 August 1942, nine months after the
attack on Pearl Harbor, from the
Observer Group, a joint
Marine Corps–
Army–
Navy unit. The Observer Group was the first unit trained in
amphibious reconnaissance. They trained in
inflatable boat insertions from
submarines around the
Chesapeake Bay and at the
Amphibious Training Base (ATB) Little Creek in
Virginia and in
Fort Pierce, Florida. They were training for an intense clandestine mission in North Africa. With US Marines limited to the Pacific Theatre of Operations, the Observer Group was disbanded, with the Marine Corps counterpart forming the
Amphib Recon Company; the Army/Navy unit formed the
Scouts and Raiders with the Army later leaving. The U.S. Navy began the Scouts and Raiders to provide
reconnaissance and
raiding missions to support amphibious landings. The unit utilized two men to
platoon-sized operations to conduct raids and sabotage missions. The unit continued its deployment to
North Africa as planned, This was just the first of many war-time missions for the versatile Scouts and Raiders.
First group The first group included
Phil H. Bucklew, the "Father of Naval Special Warfare", after whom the
Naval Special Warfare Center building is named. Commissioned in October 1942, this group saw combat in November 1942 during
Operation Torch on the North African coast. Scouts and Raiders also supported landings in
Sicily,
Salerno,
Anzio,
Normandy, and southern France.
Third group The third Scout and Raiders organization deployed to fight with the
Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) in China.
Admiral Ernest J. King ordered that 120 officers and 900 enlisted sailors be trained for "Amphibious Roger" at the Amphibious Roger
Naval Combat Demolition Units In September 1942, 17 Navy salvage personnel arrived at
ATB Little Creek,
Virginia for a one-week concentrated course on demolitions, explosive cable cutting and commando raiding techniques. The units were organised into six-man teams of an officer, a petty officer and four seamen using a seven-man
LCRS inflatable boat to carry their explosives and gear. On 10 November 1942, this first combat demolition unit succeeded in cutting a cable and net barrier across the Wadi
Sebou River during Operation Torch in
North Africa. Their actions enabled to traverse the river and insert
Army Rangers, who proceeded to capture the
Port Lyautey aerodrome. Plans for a massive cross-channel invasion of Europe had begun and intelligence indicated that the Germans were placing extensive underwater obstacles on the beaches at
Normandy. On 7 May 1943,
Lieutenant Commander Draper L. Kauffman, "The Father of Naval Combat Demolition," was directed to set up a school and train people to eliminate obstacles on an enemy-held beach prior to an invasion. On 6 June 1943, LCDR Kaufmann established Naval Combat Demolition Unit training at
Fort Pierce. By April 1944, a total of 34 NCDUs were deployed to England in preparation for Operation OVERLORD, the
amphibious landing at Normandy. On 6 June 1944, in the face of great adversity, the NCDUs at
Omaha Beach managed to blow eight complete gaps and two partial gaps in the German defenses. The NCDUs suffered 31 killed and 60 wounded, a casualty rate of 52%. Meanwhile, the NCDUs at
Utah Beach met less intense enemy fire. They cleared of beach in two hours, another by the afternoon. Casualties at Utah Beach were significantly lighter with six killed and eleven wounded. During Operation OVERLORD, not a single demolitioneer was lost to improper handling of explosives. In August 1944, NCDUs from
Utah Beach participated in the landings in
southern France, the last amphibious operation in the
European Theater of Operations. NCDUs also operated in the
Pacific theater. NCDU 2, under LTjg
Frank Kaine, after whom the Naval Special Warfare Command building is named, and NCDU 3 under LTjg
Lloyd Anderson, formed the nucleus of six NCDUs that served with the
Seventh Amphibious Force tasked with clearing boat channels after the landings from
Biak to
Borneo.
OSS Operational Swimmers Some of the earliest World War II predecessors of the SEALs were the Operational Swimmers of the
Office of Strategic Services, or OSS. Many present day SEAL missions were first assigned to them. The OSS specialized in special operations, dropping operatives behind enemy lines to engage in organized guerrilla warfare as well as to gather information on such things as enemy resources and troop movements. British
Combined Operations veteran Lt Cdr Wooley, of the
Royal Navy, was placed in charge of the
OSS Maritime Unit in June 1943. Their training started in November 1943 at
Camp Pendleton, California, moved to
Santa Catalina Island, California in January 1944, and finally moved to the warmer waters of The Bahamas in March 1944. Within the
U.S. military, they pioneered flexible
swimfins and
diving masks,
closed-circuit diving equipment (under the direction of Dr.
Chris Lambertsen), the use of
Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (a type of
submersible), and combat swimming and
limpet mine attacks. Later, the UDTs supported the Amphibious Ready Groups operating on South Vietnam's rivers creating a River Patrol Force (Task Force 116) of UDT's that operated
River Patrol Boats. UDTs manned riverine patrol craft and help went ashore to demolish obstacles and enemy bunkers. They operated throughout South Vietnam, from the
Mekong Delta (
Sea Float), the
Parrot's Beak and French canal AO's through
I Corps and the Song Cui Dai estuary south of
Da Nang. UDT's provided infiltration and extraction for assigned SEAL team assault squads along the rivers. == Navy SEALs and SWCC ==