Do Navy people ever see combat action?

Horatio

While it is true that Navy personnel have a much smaller chance of seeing combat action when compared to Army or Marine Corps personnel, it does occur.

Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq between 2003-2005)
- Navy killed in action = 26
- Navy wonded in action = 320

Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan between 2001-2005)
- Navy killed in action = 15
- Navy wounded in action = 6

USS Cole attacked by terrorists (2000)
- Navy killed in action = 17
- Navy wounded in action = 39

Lebanon
- Navy killed in action = 19
- Navy wounded in action = 8

Vietnam War (1964-1973)
- Navy killed in action = 1,631
- Navy wounded in action = 4,178

Korean War (1950-1955)
- Navy killed in action = 505
- Navy wounded in action = 1,576

World War 2 (1941-1946)
- Navy killed in action = 36,950
- Navy wounded in action = 37,778

World War 1 (1917-1918)
- Navy killed in action = 431
- Navy wounded in action = 819

bostonianinmo

Ask the folks who served on the USS Cole.

Ranger J

Navy SEALS, submarines, battleships, pilots, etc..........

Reaganator

Have you ever heard of Pearl Harbor or Midway?

I cannot be silenced

rsl1489

Corpsman and master at arms are some jobs that run with the marines, navy seals, EOD, SWCC, Divers, Navy Pilots, all navy rates that see action. I will grant that in todays navy most rates dont see the front lines, but we are not completely away from it all. Ships get attacked to look at the USS Cole, and back in the days of battle ships and beyond, you have midway and pearl harbor are the two greatest examples. The Navy plays a vital role in the military and aid the front line men everyday. The ships get deployed close to where the action is, they take aid, they take marines, supplyies, they carry missiles and are preped for launch, air craft, etc... To answer your question bluntly yes some navy rates do in fact serve on the front lines.

andrewj_j

Yes The Navy sees combat action they do not sit back and watch the waters. There are the Navy Seals, the Navy Sea-bees( construction battalion. There are also navy corpsmen,Fighter pilots, Navy divers, Just ot name a few. So there are Navy personnel fighting out there everyday.
I hope this Answers your Question

ET1 (SS) USN retired

Yes.

I served in the US Navy for 20+ years. I completed 14 years in the Silent Service.

I have 18 combat awards, 3 combat medals and stars that add up to 17 awards [some gold stars some silver stars].

themrmike

Navy goes in harms way every day. ever heard of the SEALS or Black Ops? Special teams. how about pilots and crews that fly into hurricanes. or the guys that put out the fires aboard ship. kid yourself not there is no safe place to hide tmm.

Dude!Sweet!

Wow. "pretty much just sit back and watch the waters" is HARDLY what I did when I was enlisted in the Navy. While I never never had the experience of hand to hand combat or have anyone shoot at me, I never merely sat back and watched the water. Sure, if you're stationed on a ship, you don't live in a fox hole and carry a rifle, but that's only if you're on a ship. There are plenty of seamen who are stationed on land and have to fight. Have you ever heard of the SEALS?

Anyway, if you're in the Navy and you're on a ship, you still are in danger. I sailed through a mine field (I guess you could call it that; there were mines throughout the water). Believe it or not, it's not uncommon for a fire to break out while underway, and EVERYONE has to be trained to fight it, right down to the cooks. I remember a helicopter crash onboard my ship (everyone survived, thank god) and we had a chemical attack scare (and we all survived that one too, but it's scary as hell when it's happening).

Working on a ship isn't a cake walk at all. Picture this schedule, we called it six and six. Six hours on, six hours off. This means that you work for six hours, then have off for six hours, and during your off time, it's not just for sleep...that's your time to sleep, eat, do your laundry, work out, shower...everything that one would do in their spare time. It doesn't sound so horrible, but just try to live on a six and six rotation for three months straight. "Sit back and watch the waters"...I think not.

USMCgrlandMommy

Yes, think of Submarines and certain jobs in the Navy like Seabeas who work on the land, and EOD ( explosive ordnance disposal ), the Navy does all the medical stuff for the Marines and they send out Corpsmen ( who are medics )along with Marines in combat in Iraq.

The Navy does it's part in combat as well.

karen star

During World War II, my father was in the Navy. He was a gunner, and among other things he rode the LST to deliver troops to shore. LST is land-sea-transport, I think, but he always joked that it stood for "Large Slow Target." He served in the Pacific, but there were LSTs in the European Theater, as well.

In the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, the guys coming out of the LSTs were Marines, but the guys driving them were Navy. Many on the landings on D Day were cut to pieces on the transport.

My father spent his 21st birthday off the coast of Iwo Jima. He transported men and supplies to the beaches, and transported wounded back to the ship. He would talk very little of those trips. I don't think he took fire, but he had to deal with the possibility, and since Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles in terms of Americans killed or wounded per square foot, much of what he must have had to help with would have been deeply disturbing. (You may have seen the movies Sands of Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers).

Still, he told of time spent on fixing water supplies for the cooks, because "If you take care of the cooks, they take care of you." He told of jokes he played on his shipmates and jokes they played on him. He told of worrying about getting caught eating a snack on watch, when the CO stopped by unexpectedly on his first night on that duty...then was relieved when the CO asked him if they still kept crackers and a bit of tuna above one of the engines for about that time of night, and wasn't it time to get them out?

In the long run he, like many of his generation, didn't tell us the difficulties, but freely shared the good times.

For a realistic notion of what the various branches of the Armed Forces do, try exploring this site:
http://todaysmilitary.com/?=garmedforces

Mrsjvb

yes. USS COLE. USS LIBERTY. USS ARIZONA.

Air strikes against Baghdad.

close combat with the Taliban.

Port Security.

Chasing Pirates and smugglers.

Seabees. SEALs. MAs. PSs.

Eric M

DOH Homer! There have been just as many in the Navy die in combat. I think the big difference between The Navy and other branches is the marines, army, and air force are more grunts. The Navy is more high tech. ABH3 Smiley

Cipher

Watch on youtube "Midway Battles", that should show you just about how much the Navy gets into battle.

matt

on tv sometimes.

SMARTY

Yes, sometimes their ships get sunk.

Old, Bald, and Ugly

Today's Naval combat is more like a video game than actual "combat". "Fighting" on a modern warship consists of pushing a button.
However, if a Navy ship gets hit with a mine, missile, artillery shell, bomb, or the like - things haven't changed much since WW2. The ship can break in half, explode, burn, etc. The potential exists for mass casualties.
The US Navy hasn't seen any major combat action the likes of WW2 since WW2, simply because it is the most bad-*ss Navy in the world, and nobody else has a strong enough Navy to even challenge it.
If our leaders have any common sense, they will keep the Navy budget high enough to keep it that way!

WhiteyBoy

only in the showers oi oi! ;)
just remember to drop the bar of soap first

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