The Navy SEALs were commissioned by President Kennedy. It was his foresight to start a force that could engage in unconventional warfare. Since then there has been no looking back. The Navy SEALs of today are highly proficient and skilled in various tactics of warfare. Here are some of the missions the SEALs started from the initial years till date.

Pacific and Atlantic fleets

It was during the year 1962 on January 1st at 1300 hours that two Navy SEAL teams – team one and team two were deployed to the Pacific and Atlantic fleets respectively. They were commissioned to these two separate areas in order to engage in unconventional warfare also known as UW.

The first Vietnam War

In the year 1963 shortly after the establishment of the Navy SEALs the Vietnam War started. The Navy SEAL team one was sent to Danang province in Vietnam to serve below the directives of the CIA command of the Chief of Station. This was the very first time that the first war detachment of Vietnam from elements of the Navy SEAL team was deployed. Later on during 1964 the Navy SEALs became a part of the CINC or the commander in chief of the theater forces of Vietnam.

Special operation involvement

As more and more special operations commenced, the original name of Naval Operations Support Groups was renamed to Naval Special Warfare Groups also known in abbreviated form as NSWG. It was much later during 1983 that all the current UDTs was called as Navy SEAL teams or SEAL delivery vehicle teams. Also during this time all the prerequisites for the hydrographic reconnaissance as well as underwater demolition tactics came to be called ‘SEAL missions’.

DEVGRU

It was during the year 1987 that the original Navy SEAL Team SIX came to be called as DEVGRU also called DEVelopment GRoUp. On 16th April 1987 at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado at San Diego, the Naval Special Warfare Command was commissioned here. The objective of this command was to make preparatory actions for all the special naval warfare forces to implement all the designated missions and also to create new strategic warfare tactics and operations.

Operation Anaconda

In March 2002 the Navy SEALs started the famous Operation Anaconda as part of the US invasion into Afghanistan. Later on in 2002 the Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines was conducted during which the key ASG terrorist leader was captured and killed. During March of 2003 the US Navy SEALs took part in the invasion of Iraq. This Navy SEAL mission was called Operation Iraqi Freedom. During this war, a holistic and dominant tactic of shock and awe was used.

History Products on our marketplace

This Article is written by James Kara Murat from USNavySEALstore.com, the contributor of US Navy SEALs Information Portal. A longer version of this article is located at US Navy SEAL Missions History, and related resources can be found at US Navy SEALs Store.