United States Navy

===20th century===
[[File:Us-atlantic-fleet-1907.jpg|thumb|The [[Great White Fleet]] demonstrating U.S. naval power in 1907; it was proof that the U.S. Navy had [[blue-water navy|blue-water capability]].]]

A modernization program beginning in the 1880s when the first steel-hulled warships stimulated the American steel industry, and "the new steel navy" was born.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hacker |first1=Barton C. |last2=Vining |first2=Margaret |title=American Military Technology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3KLJN5kigQC&pg=PA53 |year=2007 |page=53 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8772-7 |access-date=17 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126040429/https://books.google.com/books?id=a3KLJN5kigQC&pg=PA53 |archive-date=26 January 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> This rapid expansion of the U.S. Navy and its decisive victory over the outdated [[Spanish Navy]] in 1898 brought a new respect for American technical quality. Rapid building of at first pre-dreadnoughts, then [[dreadnoughts]] brought the U.S. in line with the navies of countries such as Britain and Germany. In 1907, most of the Navy's battleships, with several support vessels, dubbed the [[Great White Fleet]], were showcased in a 14-month circumnavigation of the world. Ordered by President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], it was a mission designed to demonstrate the Navy's capability to extend to the global theater.<ref name="love"/> By 1911, the U.S. had begun building the super-dreadnoughts at a pace to eventually become competitive with Britain.<ref>{{cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Phillips P. |title=British and American Naval Power: Politics and Policy, 1900–1936 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gf1_mPYBwS8C&pg=PP1 |pages=7, 154–156 |year=1998 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-95898-5 |access-date=17 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126040429/https://books.google.com/books?id=gf1_mPYBwS8C&pg=PP1 |archive-date=26 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The 1911 also saw the first naval aircraft with the navy<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.airplanesofthepast.com/us-naval-marine-aviation.htm|title=US Naval & Marine Aircraft|first=Airplanes of the|last=Past|website=www.airplanesofthepast.com|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210160849/http://www.airplanesofthepast.com/us-naval-marine-aviation.htm|archive-date=10 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> which would lead to the informal establishment of '''United States Naval Flying Corps''' to protect shore bases. It was not until 1921 [[Bureau of Aeronautics|US naval aviation]] truly commenced.

====World War I and interwar years====
During [[World War I]], the U.S. Navy spent much of its resources protecting and shipping hundreds of thousands of soldiers and marines of the [[American Expeditionary Force]] and war supplies across the Atlantic in [[U-boat]] infested waters with the [[Cruiser and Transport Force]]. It also concentrated on laying the [[North Sea Mine Barrage]]. Hesitation by the senior command meant that naval forces were not contributed until late 1917. [[United States Battleship Division Nine (World War I)|Battleship Division Nine]] was dispatched to Britain and served as the Sixth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet. Its presence allowed the British to decommission some older ships and reuse the crews on smaller vessels. Destroyers and U.S. Naval Air Force units like the [[Northern Bombing Group]] contributed to the anti-submarine operations. The strength of the United States Navy grew under an ambitious ship building program associated with the [[Naval Act of 1916]].

Naval construction, especially of battleships, was limited by the [[Washington Naval Conference]] of 1921–22, the first arms control conference in history. The aircraft carriers {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3}} and {{USS|Lexington|CV-2}} were built on the hulls of partially built battle cruisers that had been canceled by the treaty. The [[New Deal]] used [[Public Works Administration]] funds to build warships, such as {{USS|Yorktown|CV-5}} and {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6}}. By 1936, with the completion of {{USS|Wasp|CV-7}}, the U.S. Navy possessed a carrier fleet of 165,000 tonnes [[displacement (ship)|displacement]], although this figure was nominally recorded as 135,000 tonnes to comply with treaty limitations. [[Franklin Roosevelt]], the number two official in the Navy Department during World War I, appreciated the Navy and gave it strong support. In return, senior leaders were eager for innovation and experimented with new technologies, such as magnetic torpedoes, and developed a strategy called [[War Plan Orange]] for victory in the Pacific in a hypothetical war with Japan that would eventually become reality.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Holwitt |first=Joel I. |title=Reappraising the Interwar US Navy |journal=[[Journal of Military History]] |type=Book review |date=January 2012 |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=193–210}}</ref>

====World War II====
{{main|United States Navy in World War II|Naval history of World War II}}
[[File:New Mexico class battleship bombarding Okinawa.jpg|thumb|Battleship {{USS|Idaho|BB-42|6}} [[Battle of Okinawa|shelling Okinawa]] on 1 April 1945]]

The U.S. Navy grew into a formidable force in the years prior to [[World War II]], with battleship production being restarted in 1937, commencing with {{USS|North Carolina|BB-55}}. Though ultimately unsuccessful, Japan tried to neutralize this strategic threat with the surprise [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] on 7 December 1941. Following American entry into the war, the U.S. Navy grew tremendously as the United States was faced with a two-front war on the seas. It achieved notable acclaim in the [[Pacific War|Pacific Theater]], where it was instrumental to the Allies' successful "[[Leapfrogging (strategy)|island hopping]]" campaign.<ref name="Howarth"/> The U.S. Navy participated in many significant battles, including the [[Battle of the Coral Sea]], the [[Battle of Midway]], the [[Solomon Islands Campaign]], the [[Battle of the Philippine Sea]], the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]], and the [[Battle of Okinawa]]. By 1943, the navy's size was larger than the combined fleets of all the other combatant nations in World War II.<ref name="Tread">{{cite book |last=Crocker III |first=H. W. |title=Don't Tread on Me |publisher=Crown Forum |year=2006 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/donttreadonme40000croc/page/302 302] |isbn=978-1-4000-5363-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/donttreadonme40000croc/page/302}}</ref> By war's end in 1945, the U.S. Navy had added hundreds of new ships, including 18 aircraft carriers and 8 battleships, and had over 70% of the world's total numbers and total tonnage of naval vessels of 1,000 tons or greater.<ref name="Defense Analysis; Dec 2001, Vol. 17 Issue 3, p. 259–265">{{cite journal |title=Weighing the US Navy |first1=David T. |last1=Burbach |first2=Marc |last2=Devore |first3=Harvey M. |last3=Sapolsky |first4=Stephen |last4=Van Evera |journal=Defense Analysis |volume=17 |issue=3 |date=1 December 2001 |pages=259–265 |doi=10.1080/07430170120093382 |s2cid=153947005}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=King |first=Ernest J. |author-link=Ernest J. King |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USNatWar/USN-King-B.html |title=US Navy at War 1941–1945: Official Report to the Secretary of the Navy |date=3 December 1945 |access-date=8 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711124522/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USNatWar/USN-King-B.html |archive-date=11 July 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> At its peak, the U.S. Navy was operating 6,768 ships on [[V-J Day]] in August 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/us-ship-force-levels.html |title=U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1886–present |publisher=U.S. Navy |website=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] |date=20 June 2015 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613070332/http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/us-ship-force-levels.html |archive-date=13 June 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:US Navy Issue, 3c, 1945.jpg|thumb|On [[Navy Day#United States|Navy Day]], October 27, 1945, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp in honor of the Navy and the end of WW2.]]
Doctrine had significantly shifted by the end of the war. The U.S. Navy had followed in the footsteps of the navies of Great Britain and Germany which favored concentrated groups of battleships as their main offensive naval weapons.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Evolution of Fleet Tactical Doctrine in the U.S. Navy, 1922–1941 |first=Trent |author1-link=Trent Hone|last=Hone |journal=The Journal of Military History |volume=67 |issue=4 |date=October 2003 |pages=1107–1148 |publisher=Society for Military History |jstor=3396884 |doi=10.1353/jmh.2003.0300|s2cid=159659057}}</ref> The development of the aircraft carrier and its devastating use by the Japanese against the U.S. at Pearl Harbor, however, shifted U.S. thinking. The Pearl Harbor attack destroyed or took out of action a significant number of U.S. Navy battleships. This placed much of the burden of retaliating against the Japanese on the small number of aircraft carriers.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Tactical Use of Air Power in World War II: The Navy Experience |first=Henry M. |last=Dater |journal=Military Affairs |volume=14 |issue=4 |year=1950 |pages=192–200 |publisher=Society for Military History |jstor=1982840 |doi=10.2307/1982840}}</ref> During World War II some 4,000,000 Americans served in the United States Navy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/expanding-the-size-of-the-u-s-military-in-world-war-ii/|title=Expanding the Size of the U.S. Military in World War II|website=warfarehistorynetwork.com|access-date=13 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812194913/http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/expanding-the-size-of-the-u-s-military-in-world-war-ii/|archive-date=12 August 2018|url-status=live|date=26 June 2017}}</ref>

====Cold War and 1990s====
{{See also|1989 United States Navy order of battle}}
[[File:USS George Washington (SSBN-598).jpg|thumb|{{USS|George Washington|SSBN-598|6}}, a ballistic missile submarine]]

The potential for armed conflict with the [[Soviet Union]] during the [[Cold War]] pushed the U.S. Navy to continue its technological advancement by developing new weapons systems, ships, and aircraft. U.S. naval strategy changed to that of forward deployment in support of U.S. allies with an emphasis on carrier battle groups.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/h/history-of-the-us-navy/transoceanic-period.html |title=The Navy: The Transoceanic Period, 1945–1992 |last=Palmer |first=Michael A. |publisher=U.S. Navy |website=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630002739/http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/h/history-of-the-us-navy/transoceanic-period.html |archive-date=30 June 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The navy was a major participant in the [[Vietnam War]], blockaded Cuba during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]], and, through the use of [[ballistic missile submarines]], became an important aspect of the United States' [[Mutual assured destruction|nuclear strategic deterrence]] policy. The U.S. Navy conducted various combat operations in the Persian Gulf against Iran in 1987 and 1988, most notably [[Operation Praying Mantis]]. The Navy was extensively involved in [[Operation Urgent Fury]], [[Operation Desert Shield (Gulf War)|Operation Desert Shield]], [[Operation Desert Storm]], [[Operation Deliberate Force]], [[Operation Allied Force]], [[Operation Desert Fox]] and [[Operation Southern Watch]].

The U.S. Navy has also been involved in search and rescue/search and salvage operations, sometimes in conjunction with vessels of other countries as well as with U.S. Coast Guard ships. Two examples are the [[1966 Palomares B-52 crash]] incident and the subsequent search for missing hydrogen bombs, and Task Force 71 of the Seventh Fleet's operation in search for [[Korean Air Lines Flight 007]], shot down by the Soviets on 1 September 1983.