Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Production of landing craft peaked during World War II, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States.
Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), or frogmen, were amphibious units created by the United States Navy during World War II with specialized non-tactical missions. They were predecessors of the navy's current SEAL teams.
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted using ship's boats as the primary method of delivering troops to shore. Since the Gallipoli Campaign, specialised watercraft were increasingly designed for landing troops, material and vehicles, including by landing craft and for insertion of commandos, by fast patrol boats, zodiacs and from mini-submersibles. The term amphibious first emerged in the United Kingdom and the United States during the 1930s with introduction of vehicles such as Vickers-Carden-Loyd Light Amphibious Tank or the Landing Vehicle Tracked.
The United States Naval Special Warfare Command (USNSWC), also known as, is the naval component of United States Special Operations Command, the unified command responsible for overseeing and conducting the nation's special operations and missions.
Joint Expeditionary Base–Little Creek (JEB–LC), formerly known as Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and commonly called simply Little Creek, is the major operating base for the Amphibious Forces in the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet. The base comprises four locations in three states, including almost 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) of real estate. Its Little Creek location in Virginia Beach, Virginia, totals 2,120 acres (860 ha) of land. Outlying facilities include 350 acres (140 ha) located just north of Training Support Center Hampton Roads in Virginia Beach and 21 acres (8.5 ha) known as Radio Island at Morehead City, North Carolina, used for U.S. Coast Guard ships and personnel as well as serves as an amphibious embarkation/debarkation area for U.S. Marine Corps units at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It is also home to the Naval School of Music.
The Battle of Tinian was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Tinian in the Mariana Islands from 24 July until 1 August 1944. The 8,000-man Japanese garrison was eliminated, and the island joined Saipan and Guam as a base for the Twentieth Air Force.
Vice Admiral Daniel Edward Barbey was an officer in the United States Navy who served in World War I and World War II. A graduate of the Naval Academy, he participated in the 1912 United States occupation of Nicaragua and the 1915 United States occupation of Veracruz. While serving with the War Plans Section of the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, D.C. between the World Wars, developed an interest in amphibious warfare. In 1940 he produced Fleet Training Publication 167 – Landing Operations Doctrine, United States Navy, which would become the Navy's "bible" of amphibious operations, and would remain in use throughout World War II.
When World War II broke out the United States Naval Construction Battalions (Seabees) did not exist. The logistics of a two theater war were daunting to conceive. Rear Admiral Moreell completely understood the issues. What needed to be done was build staging bases to take the war to the enemy, across both oceans, and create the construction force to do the work. Naval Construction Battalions were first conceived at Bureau of Yards and Docks (BuDocks) in the 1930s. The onset of hostilities clarified to Radm. Moreell the need for developing advance bases to project American power. The solution: tap the vast pool of skilled labor in the U.S. Put it in uniform to build anything, anywhere under any conditions and get the Marine Corps to train it. The first volunteers came skilled. To obtain these tradesmen, military age was waived to age 50. It was later found that several past 60 had managed to get in. Men were given advanced rank/pay based upon experience making the Seabees the highest paid group in the U.S. military. The first 60 battalions had an average age of 37.
HMAS Assault is a former Royal Australian Navy (RAN) training centre that was in use during World War II, located at Nelson Bay in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.
An amphibious warfare ship is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault.
Rosneath naval base was a naval base, constructed on the Rosneath peninsula, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. close to the village of Rosneath. The construction of the base started in July 1941, in response to American expectations that they would be shortly entering World War II. In June 1945, the base was decommissioned, then fell into disuse and was finally closed in 1948.
US Naval Advance Bases were built globally by the United States Navy during World War II to support and project U.S. naval operations worldwide. A few were built on Allied soil, but most were captured enemy facilities or completely new. Advance bases provided the fleet with support to keep ships tactically available with repair and supply depots of facilities, rather than return them to the continental United States. Before Japan declared war on the United States the U.S. Navy had a single fleet-sized advanced base in the Territory of Hawaii at Naval Station Pearl Harbor. During the war the U.S. Navy Seabees built over 400 advance bases categorized by size. Naval bases were either Lions or Cubs while airfields were either Oaks or Acorns. Lions and Oaks were major facilities while Cubs and Acorns were minor. PT Boats typically would get a Cub and airfields with single runways were Acorns. The larger bases could do refueling and overhaul; loading of troopship and cargo ships; and preparing amphibious assault ships. Some became major repair depots. The Seabees developed auxiliary floating drydocks were able to repair battle damage and do regular maintenance in the field saving ships trans-pacific trips for repair. A few bases also were developed to be R and R for all U.S. personnel. Most Advance Bases were built by the US Navy's Seabees in Naval Construction Battalions (CBs). At the start of the war civilian contractors were employed in construction. The Seabees in World War II built most of the airfields used by the United States Army Air Forces and United States Marine Corps, as they had the ships and cranes needed to transport the vast amount of equipment needed at the advance bases. The US Army and United States Coast Guard also operated out of many of these facilities. Seabees could build new or repair damaged runways, and with advancements in heavy bomber technology lengthen runways as needed. A few Naval Advance Bases were built for the Korean War and Vietnam War.
Tinian Naval Base and Naval Air Facility Tinian was a major United States Navy sea and air base on Tinian Island, part of the Northern Mariana Islands on the east side of the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean. The base was built during World War II to support the many bombers and aircraft fighting and patrolling in the South West Pacific theatre of the Pacific War. Numerous naval facilities were built on the entire island of 101.22 km. The main port was built at the city and port of San Jose, also called Tinian Harbor. All construction was done by the Navy's Seabees Sixth Construction Brigade with minor help from the 64th Army Engineers, including the main two airports: West Field and North Field. United States Army Air Forces operated long-range bombers out of the air base built and maintained by the Seabees. The base was decommissioned on 1 June 1947.
Naval Base Milne Bay, also called Naval Advance Base Milne Bay, was new major United States Navy sea and airbase base built on Milne Bay in Milne Bay Province in south-eastern Papua New Guinea. By spring 1943, the build up of the US Navy to support the Pacific War had caused overcrowding at the ports on the east coast of Australia. To help, Seabees departed Naval Base Brisbane on June 19, 1943 to set up a new base in Milne Bay. Naval Base Milne Bay headquarters was at Ladava Navy Base. The Royal Australian Navy already had a small base in Milne Bay: HMAS Ladava. Australians were able to defend and keep Milne Bay in the Battle of Milne Bay in 1942. Naval Base Milne Bay was built during World War II to support the many ships and aircraft fighting and patrolling in the South West Pacific theatre of war. Ladava Navy Base provided a large protective US Navy fleet anchorage at Gahora Bay next to Ladava. At Naval Base Milne Bay, Seabees built a large Naval facility.
Naval Base Fiji was a naval base built by the United States Navy in 1942 to support the World War II effort. The base was located on Fiji in the Central Pacific Ocean. The base was built as one of many advance bases in the island-hopping campaign towards the Empire of Japan. The US Navy built seaports, seaplane bases and airfields used for staging in the Pacific War.
Naval Base Samoa, codename Operation Straw, was a number of United States Navy bases at American Samoa in the central Pacific Ocean. The bases were used during World War II to support the island hopping Pacific war efforts of the allied nations fighting the Empire of Japan.
US Naval Bases in North Africa were sea ports and air base used in North Africa during World War II by the United States Navy. The ports and air bases supplied the troops of the Allies armies in the flight against Nazi Afrika Korps in the North African campaign and Western Desert campaign. Later the bases supported the invasion of Italy. The ports and airfields were used after their surrender in Operation Torch. Amphibious Training Bases (ATB) were built in Algeria and Tunisia to prepare for the upcoming invasions. Seabees, United States Naval Construction Battalions, did most of the repair work, new construction, and maintaining work at the bases.
Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons also called Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons Island was a US Amphibious Training Base at Solomons, Maryland, on the Dowell Peninsula, from 1942 to 1945 built to train troops for World War II amphibious warfare. Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons was the United States's first official naval amphibious training base, it was established in August 1942 on the Patuxent River, called: USNATB, United States Navy Amphibious Training Base. The base closed April 1945 after training 67,698 troops.
