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Establishment
Understanding a need for ships to fight British seapower, the Continental Congress establishes the Continental Navy. -
Disbanded
The Treaty of Paris ends the Revolutionary War, and a nation is born. However, seeing no need for a standing Navy, it is disbanded. -
Naval Act of 1794
Piracy, aggression by other nations, and the need for a stronger national defense leads to the Naval Act of 1794 by Congress. -
USS Chesapeake
Tensions that would one day lead to the war of 1812 begin when the HMS Leopard boards and captures the USS Chesapeake looking for British Navy deserters. -
USS Constitution
The USS Constitution engages the HMS Guerriere in a 35-minute battle. British cannonball are seen bouncing off the hull of the Constitution, earning her the nickname of "Old Ironsides." -
Lake Erie
One of the most important US Naval victories doesn't happen on the seas – it happens on Lake Erie. Of utmost strategic importance, this victory plus the Battle of Lake Champlain a year later, forces the British to cede control of Detroit and the Great Lakes back to the US following the War of 1812. -
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Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War is primarily a ground war. However, the US Navy is instrumental in victory, forming an effective blockade of Mexico and helping with the capture of California. -
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Civil War
The Civil War marks important moments in US Naval history. The Confederates introduce the torpedo. while steamships come into prominence as war vessels. -
First engagement of civil war
Battle of Gloucester Point is the first naval engagement of the Civil War, with the USS Yankee firing on a fixed Confederate shore battery. -
First Ironclad Battle
The first-ever clash of ironclad ships happens in the Battle of Hampton Roads. The USS Monitor fights the CSS Virginia to a standstill. -
First Submarine in Battle
American submarine warfare is born outside of Charleston, SC. Although it was not a Union ship, it's the CSS Hunley, using a torpedo to sink the USS Housatonic. -
Introduction of the mine
Another American naval innovation was the mine. A Confederate innovation, it was first used at Battle of Mobile Bay, concluding with a Confederate loss. -
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After the war
Following the Civil War, the Navy goes into decline, both in ships and Sailors. It's not until 1882 that there is a call to strengthen the US fleet by building modern warships. -
The end of the war
Although the Confederates had early success running the Union "Anaconda" blockades, the Union strategy eventually wins out. -
USS Maine
The call for a stronger Navy increases dramatically with the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. This event starts the Spanish-American War -
First engagement with spanish
The first naval engagement with the Spanish in the Battle of Manila Bay ends with a decisive US victory. -
Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay is captured with a large-scale amphibious landing. -
Battle of Santiago de Cuba
Battle of Santiago de Cuba becomes the largest and most decisive battle of the war as the US destroys the entire Spanish Caribbean fleet. -
USS Holland
The USS Holland becomes the first commissioned submarine in the US Navy. -
Navy Reserve
The Navy Reserve is created, thanks to a dedicated campaign by Secretary of the Navy -
Big Navy Act
Congress passes "the big Navy Act" – the US Naval Act of 1916, an ambitious plan to make the US Navy larger than the British Royal Navy. -
Great White Fleet
President Teddy Roosevelt adds 16 battleships to the US Navy to create his "Great White Fleet." -
First WWI Victory
The USS Fanning and USS Nicholson score the first US Naval victory of World War I and sink German U-boat U-58. -
Last Engagement
The final engagement of WWI for the Navy ends like the first – with the sinking of a U-Boat –this time off the coast of Algiers. -
Naval Conference
The Washington Naval Conference and subsequent international treaties end the expansion of the Naval Act of 1916, restricting the number of battleships and cruisers each of the world's navies could have. -
USS Langley
the Navy turns unfinished battleships and cruisers into carriers. The first of its kind, the USS Langley, is commissioned, remaining in service until it's damaged and scuttled in 1942. -
RADAR
The Naval Research Laboratory hires Albert H. Taylor and Leo C. Young for a project titled "Detection of Enemy Vessels and Aircraft by Radio." Their continuous work through the 1930s eventually leads to the first practical, modern RADAR systems -
Pearl Harbor
The day that will live in infamy. Americans are left in a state of shock as two waves of carrier-launched air raids bomb and torpedo Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. -
Doolittle Raid
In a morale-boosting joint operation known as the Doolittle Raid, the U.S. Army and Navy team carry out an ambitious strike on the Japanese home islands. -
Battle of Midway
The Japanese air attack on Midway begins early in the morning of June 4. It's followed by waves of American counterattacks taking off from Midway Island and from the decks of the carriers making up Task Forces 16 and 17. -
D-Day
On D-Day, US ships participated with other Allied forces in the largest amphibious landing in the history of the world. This invasion eventually led to the surrender of Nazi Germany. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Referred to as the "Pacific Battle of the Bulge", the Battle of Leyte Gulf is the Imperial Navy's last-ditch attempt to retake the advantage. Nearly out of carriers, the Japanese resort to using battleships and cruisers as their main strike force. -
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Korean War
The US is drawn into the Korean War. The Koreans do not possess a strong Navy. Most Navy engagements with the enemy happen in the skies, from carrier-launched sorties. -
Chumonchin Chan
The US Navy, along with two British ships, fight off and destroy a small flotilla of Korean torpedo boats. -
Nuclear Power
the US launches the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear sub in the US Navy. It sets the tone for the all nuclear-powered submarine fleet of the present-day US Navy. -
The SEALs
The civil war in Vietnam heats up and the US keeps sending more troops in "advisor roles," including the Navy SEALs. In Vietnam, the SEALs build a reputation as some of the best (if not the best) special operators in the world. -
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Quiet Times
A relatively quiet period for the Navy, marked by modernization, improving technology, training and expansion. During this time, both the Navy and the Navy Reserve expand -
Quiet period ends
The quiet period ends with the invasion of Gulf of Sidra incident. Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi declares the Gulf sovereign Libyan territory. -
Greneda
Triggered by a bloody military coup, the US Navy helps special forces – including SEALs – to land on the Island of Grenada. -
Strike on Libya
Suspecting Gaddafi is behind the Berlin discotheque bombing, the US orders a retaliatory strike against Libya. The attack consisted of Air Force F-111s and Navy A-6 Intruders. -
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Invasion of Iraq
In response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the US and other nations coordinate an invasion of Iraq. The US Navy's role is mainly air support and transport -
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Bombing Yugoslovia
The US Navy participates in several attack sorties along with NATO forces in a bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War, seeking to end the campaign of "ethnic cleansing." -
9/11 relief
The hospital ship USNS Comfort is activated and sent to Pier 92 in Manhattan to help with the medical needs following the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center. -
Operation Enduring Freedom
In response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the US launches Operation Enduring Freedom and invades Afghanistan. -
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Invasion of Iraq
The Navy is also participates in the US Invasion of Iraq. Much like other engagements in the region, the Navy is not as threatened by the enemy on the sea. -
Osama Bin Laden
After US Intelligence pinpoints a safe house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, as the likely hiding place for Osama Bin Laden, the SEALs are the choice to go in and get him. Months of planning lead to a dangerous nighttime raid. SEALs infiltrate the secret compound and kill the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks without US casualties.