The Use of Naval Forces in the Post-War Era: U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps Crisis Response Activity, 1946-1990

Since the end of World War II, U.S. Naval forces have played a major role in at least 207 U.S. responses to international incidents and crises, exclusive of the Korean and Vietnam wars. This research memorandum summarizes these U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps crisis management operations. It was written at the request of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans, Policies and Operations, Headquarters, United States Marine Corps. This paper is a report from CNA's History of U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps Crisis Response Activity Project, conducted for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Plans, Policy and Operations (OP-06).

This paper focuses on the actions of the Navy and Marine Corps immediately prior to and during American responses to international incidents and crises. Because this paper focuses on Navy and Marine Corps involvement, the 207 crises include only those cases in which it is known that naval forces were involved in the response. The focus on the Navy and Marine Corps activity is not intended to obscure the fact that the other services and other instruments of policy (military and nonmilitary) play significant roles in the crisis management activities of the National Command Authorities. Similarly, the focus on crises should not obscure the day-to-day actions the Navy and Marine Corps undertake in support of U.S. foreign policy and national strategy, which range from the Navy's role in the strategic triad to the peacetime presence mission Navy and Marine Corps forces carry out worldwide.

This paper updates CNA Research Memorandum 89-315, U.S. Navy Crisis Response Activity, 1946-1989: Preliminary Report, which was distributed in November 1989.1 Research Memorandum 89-315 documented 187 cases of U.S. Navy crisis response activity in the post-World War II era. The paper was revised to (a) more fully document U.S. Marine Corps activity, (b) include research completed after the original document, (c) improve methodological consistency between periods covered by different sources, and (d) add recent crisis response actions.