:: wikimiki.org ::

Gonzo Station

Gonzo Station

Gonzo Station was a U.S. Navy euphemism used to designate an area of carrier-based operations in the North Arabian Sea. The station was regularly patrolled by carrier task forces during the Iran hostage crisis and the so-called Tanker War between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Carriers on Gonzo Station normally rotated on three-month cruises before being relieved by another task force. Following Operation Desert Storm, the area of the North Arabian Sea grew less in strategic importance as Gonzo Station was too far away to respond to operational needs in Iraq and the Northern Persian Gulf. As a result, the area of the north Arabian Sea is considered today a "transit area." Several U.S. Navy carriers served on Gonzo Station, including the U.S.S. Midway (CV-41), Enterprise (CVN-65), Independence (CV-62), Constellation (CV-64), and Coral Sea (CV-43). Category:United States Navy

U.S. Navy

The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. The U.S. Navy consists of 281 ships and over 4,000 aircraft. It has over half a million men and women on active or ready reserve duty. The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established during the American Revolutionary War. The United States Constitution, ratified in 1789, empowered Congress "to provide and maintain a navy." Acting on this authority, Congress ordered the construction and manning of six frigates; one of the original six, USS Constitution, familiarly known as "Old Ironsides," survives to this day. The War Department administered naval affairs from that year until Congress established the Department of the Navy on April 30, 1798. The Navy became part of the Department of Defense upon its establishment in 1947.

History of the Navy

Main article: History of the United States Navy History of the United States Navy The Continental Navy was established in Philadelphia by the Continental Congress on October 13, 1775, which authorized the procurement, fitting out, manning, and dispatch of two armed vessels to search for munitions ships supplying the British Army in America. The legislation also established a Naval Committee to supervise the work. The Continental Navy operated some 50 ships over the course of the American Revolutionary War, but no more than about 20 at one time. After the war, Congress sold the surviving ships and released the seamen and officers. Congress ordered the construction and manning of six frigates on March 27, 1794, and three years later welcomed into service the first three: USS United States, Constellation and Constitution. The frigates became famous in the War of 1812, where they unexpectedly defeated British Royal Navy forces several times. During the American Civil War, the Navy was an innovator in the use of ironclad warships, but after the war slipped into obsolescence. A modernization program beginning in the 1880s brought the U.S. into the first rank of the world's navies by the beginning of the 20th century. 20th century (middle) and USS Annapolis (SSN 760) (front)]] The Navy saw little action during World War I, but grew into a formidable force in the years before World War II. Japan unsuccessfully attempted to allay this strategic threat with a late-1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. During the next three years, the U.S. Navy grew into the most powerful in the world. It is widely accepted that currently the United States Navy remains the most powerful in the world.

Organization

The Navy is administered by the Department of the Navy, led by the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV). The senior naval officer, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), is the four-star admiral immediately under the Secretary of the Navy. The Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations are responsible for organizing, recruiting, training, and equipping the Navy so the Navy is ready for operation under the command of the Unified Combatant Commanders. (Also see United States Armed Forces Organization.) President | SECDEF | ------------------- | | SECNAV | | | CNO Unified Combatant Commanders | | -------------------- | | | | Shore establishment Operating Forces (including fleets)

Fleets

The two main fleets are the Pacific Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet. Under these two organizations fall the numbered fleets.
- 1st Fleet - no longer active
- 2nd Fleet – Atlantic Ocean — Flagship Iwo Jima, Norfolk, Virginia
- 3rd Fleet – Eastern and Northern Pacific Ocean — Flagship Coronado, San Diego, California (In peacetime the Third Fleet has no ARG and the carriers in the area are either on their way to the Seventh Fleet or conducting training cruises, after an overhaul for example.)
- 4th Fleet – Disbanded.
- 5th Fleet – Middle East — Headquartered at Manama, Bahrain
- 6th Fleet – Mediterranean Sea — Flagship Mount Whitney, Gaeta, Italy
- 7th Fleet – Western Pacific and Indian Ocean — Flagship Blue Ridge, Yokosuka, Japan

Shore commands

In addition to afloat fleets, the Navy maintains several "Naval Forces Commands" which operate naval shore facilities and serve as liaison units to local ground forces of the Air Force and Army. Such commands are answerable to a Fleet Commander as the shore component of the afloat command. During times of war, all Naval Forces Commands augment to become task forces of a primary fleet. Some of the larger Naval Forces Commands include:
- Commander Naval Forces Korea (CNFK)
- Commander Naval Forces Marianas (CNFM)
- Command Naval Forces Japan (CNFJ)

Staff corps

In addition to the regular line commands of the navy, several staff corps are also maintained which augment the line community and whose personnel are assigned to both line and staff commands. The current staff corps of the United States Navy are as follows:
- Navy Supply Corps
- Navy Medical Corps
- Navy Medical Service Corps
- Navy Nurse Corps
- Navy Chaplains Corps
- Navy Civil Engineer Corps (Seabees)
- Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG)

Weapons

Ships

Main article: U.S. Navy ships See also List of ships of the United States Navy for a more complete listing of ships past and present. The names of commissioned ships of the U.S. Navy start with USS, meaning 'United States Ship'. Non-commissioned, civilian-manned vessels of the U.S. Navy have names that begin with USNS, standing for 'United States Naval Ship'. A letter-based hull classification symbol is used to designate a vessel's type. The names of ships are selected by the Secretary of the Navy. The names are usually those of U.S. states, cities, towns, important people, famous battles, fish, and ideals. The U.S. Navy pioneered the use of nuclear reactors aboard naval vessels; today, they power most U.S. aircraft carriers and submarines. See United States Naval reactor. As of January 2004, a relatively small number of ship classes accounted for the bulk of the U.S. naval fleet. These include:

Aircraft carriers

United States Naval reactor on November 3, 2003. Approximately fifty aircraft can be counted on deck.]] Aircraft carriers are the major strategic arm of the Navy. They put U.S. air power within reach of most land-based military power. The US Navy's carriers are much larger and more powerful than those of the rest of the world. See also: List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy and List of escort aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. Modern aircraft carriers since CV-67 are typically named for living or dead politicians; previous aircraft carriers were named for battles and famous fighting ships of the Navy.
- Kitty Hawk class (1 ship)
- Enterprise — Norfolk, Virginia
- John F. Kennedy — Mayport Naval Station, Florida
- Nimitz class (9 ships, 1 under construction)
- USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)
- USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
- USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
- USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
- USS George Washington (CVN-73)
- USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74)
- USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)
- USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
- USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77)

Amphibious assault ships

The largest of all amphibious warfare ships amphibious assault ships resemble small aircraft carriers; capable of V/STOL, STOVL, VTOL tiltrotor and rotary wing aircraft operations; contains a welldeck to support use of Landing Craft Air Cushion and other watercraft. Amphibious assault ships are typically named after World War II aircraft carriers, a name source kept over from the earliest ones, which were converted WWII carriers.
- Wasp class (7 ships)
- Tarawa class (4 ships active, 1 decommissioned)

Amphibious transport docks

Amphibious transports are warships that embark, transport, and land elements of a landing force for a variety of expeditionary warfare missions. Amphibious transport docks are named for cities, except for USS New York (LPD-21), which is named for the state of New York and USS Somerset (LPD-25), which is named for Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
- San Antonio class (3 launched, 2 under construction, 3 planned, 2 projected)
- Austin class (10 ships active, 1 Decommissioned, 1 converted to AGF)

Submarines

:Main article: Submarines in the United States Navy There are two major types of submarines, ballistic and attack. Ballistic subs have a single, strategic mission: carrying nuclear SLBMs. Attack submarines have several tactical missions, including sinking ships and subs, launching cruise missiles, and gathering intelligence. Sea attack submarines are typically named for cities; land attack submarines (Virginia and Ohio-class boats) are typically named for states. Earlier attack submarines were named for fish, while earlier ballistic missile submarines were named for "famous Americans" (although many of these were actually foreigners).
- Ohio class (18 in commission) — ballistic missile submarines, 4 to be converted into guided missile submarines
- Virginia class (1 in commission, 3 under construction, 2 on order) — attack submarines
- Seawolf class (3 in commission) — attack submarines
- Los Angeles Class (51 in commission) — attack submarines

Cruisers

Guided missile cruisers can conduct air warfare, surface warfare and undersea warfare. All modern cruisers are named for battles. Previous cruisers were either named for cities (until CG-12), the redesignated frigates were named for naval heroes (CG-15 to CG-35) or states (CG-36 to CG-42).
- Ticonderoga class (23 in commission) — first ships to carry the Aegis combat system

Destroyers

See also the List of destroyers of the United States Navy. All destroyers have been named for naval heroes since USS Bainbridge (DD-1).
- Arleigh Burke class (44 in commission as of June 2005) — first ship class with comprehensive design for stealth technology.

Frigates

Modern frigates mainly perform anti-submarine warfare and escort other ships. The U.S. Navy is gradually retiring its frigates; some of their jobs will be performed by the nascent littoral combat ship. [http://peoships.crane.navy.mil/lcs/] Named, like the destroyers, for naval heroes.
- Oliver Hazard Perry class (30 ships in commission)

Battleships

All U.S. battleships have been retired, although two Tomahawk-capable ships remain in "Inactive" Reserve. They are maintained in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996. Current plans in the United States Navy call for keeping the battleships on the NVR until the naval surface fire support gun and missile development programs achieve operational capability, which is expected to occur sometime between 2003 and 2008. All battleships except USS Kearsarge (BB-5) were named for states.
- Iowa class

Early vessels

- USS Constitution — "Old Ironsides," oldest commissioned warship afloat
- USS Monitor — first US ironclad warship, also first rotating turret
- USS Merrimack — a wooden warship rebuilt by the Confederates as the ironclad CSS Virginia
- USS Alligator — the first submarine of the Civil War, but sunk while being towed during a storm.
- CSS Hunley — First submarine to sink a ship in a combat engagement, though it sunk in the aftermath as well. Built by the Confederates near the end of the Civil War. Sank USS Housatonic with a spar-mounted torpedo.

Naval aircraft

torpedo, 2003]]
- A-4 Skyhawk
- AV-8B Harrier II
- C-2 Greyhound
- E-2C Hawkeye
- E-6B Mercury
- EA-6B Prowler
- ES-3 Shadow
- FH-1 Phantom
- F-14 Tomcat
- F-15 Eagle
- F-16 Fighting Falcon
- F/A-18 Hornet
- F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
- EA-18G Growler
- F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
- H-3 Sea King
- CH-46 Sea Knight
- CH-53 Sea Stallion
- SH-2 Seasprite
- SH-60 Sea Hawk
- P-3C Orion see also Multimission Maritime Aircraft
- S-3B Viking
- V-22 Osprey
- T-6A Texan II
- T-45 Goshawk
- Aerial Common Sensor (no designation yet)

Harbor defense

The United States Navy has, in the last few years, greatly expanded its harbor defense forces in response to the War on Terrorism. The main components of Naval Harbor Defense include:
- Inshore Boat Units (IBUs)
- Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Units (MIUWUs)
- Special Boat Units (SBUs)

Special warfare

The Navy Seals are the U.S. Navy's primary special warfare units whose purpose is to engage in "special activities other than war". The Navy also maintains an EOD Corps (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) as well as a small corps of Surface Warfare personel known by the designator "Special Operations Underway".

Missiles, guns, equipment

- Trident missile
- Poseidon missile
- Tomahawk missile
- Polaris missile
- Naval Space Surveillance System
- CIWS

Submarine warfare and nuclear deterrence

The submarine has a long history in the USN. It began in the late 19th century, with the building of the SS-1, USS Holland. The boat was in service for 10 years and was a developmental and trials vessel for many systems on other early submarines. The submarine really came of age in World War I. The USN did not have a large part in this war, with its action mainly being confined to escorting convoys later in the war and sending a division of battleships to reinforce the British Grand Fleet. However, there were those in the USN submarine service who saw what the Germans had done with their U-boats and took careful note. Doctrine in the inter-war years emphasised the submarine as a scout for the battle fleet, and also extreme caution in command. Both these axioms were proven wrong after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The submarine skippers of the fleet boats of World War II waged a very effective campaign against Japanese merchant vessels, doing to Japan what Germany failed to do to the United Kingdom. They were aggressive and effective, and operated far from the fleet. In addition to their commerce raiding role, submarines also proved valuable in air-sea rescue. There was many an American aircraft carrier pilot who owed his life to the valour of USN submarine crews, including future U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

Navy revolutions

After WWII, things continued along much the same path until the early 1950s. Then a revolution, that was to forever change the nature of the submarine arm occurred. That revolution was USS Nautilus. The Nautilus was the first nuclear-powered submarine. Up until that point, submarines had really been, at their most basic level, torpedo boats that happened to be able to go underwater. They had been tied to the surface by the need to charge their batteries using diesel engines relatively often. The nuclear power plant of the Nautilus meant that the boat could stay underwater for literally months at a time, the only limit in the end being the amount of food that the boat could carry. Another revolution in submarine warfare came with USS George Washington. Nuclear powered, like Nautilus, George Washington added strategic ballistic missiles to the mix. Earlier submarines had carried strategic missiles, but the boats had been diesel powered, and the missiles required the boat to surface in order to fire. The missiles were also cruise missiles, which were vulnerable to the defences of the day in a way that ballistic missiles were not. George Washington's missiles could be fired whilst the boat was submerged, meaning that it was far less likely to be detected before firing. The nuclear power of the boat also meant that, like Nautilus, George Washington's patrol length was only limited by the amount of food the boat could carry. Ballistic missile submarines, carrying Polaris missiles, eventually superseded all other strategic nuclear systems in the USN. Deterrent patrols continue to this day, although now with the Ohio class boats and Trident missiles. Trident missile]] Given the lack of large scale conventional naval warfare since 1945, with the USN's role being primarily that of power projection, the submarine service did not fire weapons in anger for very many years. The development of a new generation of cruise missiles changed that. The BGM-109 Tomahawk missile was developed to give naval vessels a long range land attack capability. Other than direct shore bombardment, and strikes by aircraft flying off carriers, the ability of naval vessels to influence warfare on land was limited. Now, instead of being limited to firing shells less than 20 miles inland from guns, any naval vessel fitted with the Tomahawk could hit targets up to 1,000 miles inland. The mainstay of the Tomahawk equipped vessels in the early days of the missile's deployment were the Iowa class battleships, and the submarine fleet. The Tomahawk was first used in combat on 17 January 1991, on the opening night of Operation Desert Storm. On that day, for the first time since the surrender of Japan in 1945, an American submarine fired in combat, when Tomahawks were launched by US boats in the eastern Mediterranean. Since then, the Tomahawk has become a staple of American campaigns. It has seen use in no less than three separate wars. It has also been exported to the United Kingdom, which has also fitted it to submarines. The Tomahawk has seen a change in the design of attack submarines. At first it was fired through torpedo tubes, but more recent US boats have been fitted with vertical launch systems to enable them to carry more of the weapons. In the early 21st century, the USN submarine fleet is made up entirely of nuclear powered vessels. It is the most powerful of its type in the world. However, there are those who worry that there are not enough boats in the fleet. As with other branches of the US military the budget cuts of the late 1980s and the early 1990s, as the Cold War ended, followed up by the War on Terrorism, have left little or no slack in the system. This point is illustrated by the fact that in 2003, for the first time since 1945, a US submarine made two back-to-back war patrols.

Major naval bases

- Complete list of US Naval facilities
- Norfolk, Virginia — The largest Naval base in the world, situated in southeastern Virginia. This is the main port on the Eastern Seaboard.
- Pearl Harbor, Hawaii — A deep water naval base and headquarters of the Pacific Fleet
- San Diego, California — A large complex of Navy bases, and the primary port for ships on the West Coast of the United States
- Naval Base Kitsap, Washington — Home base for Ohio Class nuclear missile submarines in the Pacific Ocean
- Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia — Home base for Ohio Class nuclear missile submarines in the Atlantic Ocean
- Naval Station Mayport, Florida
- Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada
- Guantanamo Bay — A small section on the south coast of Cuba is leased by the United States and used as a naval base.
- U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. Largest overseas Naval facility.

Personnel

Commissioned officer

Commissioned officers in the Navy have paygrades from O-1 to O-10. Officers with superior performance may be promoted. Officers between O-1 and O-4 are called junior officers, O-5 and O-6 are called senior officers, and O-7 to O-10 are called flag officers. See U.S. Navy officer rank insignia for a complete list of paygrades and corresponding ranks. Commissioned officers belong to one of the following communities:
- Unrestricted line: Surface Warfare, Aviation Warfare, Submarine Warfare, Special Warfare, Nuclear
- Restricted line: Engineering Duty, Aerospace Engineering Duty, Aerospace Maintenance Duty, Cryptologic, Naval Intelligence, Public Affairs, Meteorology and Oceanography, Information Professional, Human Resource
- Staff Corps: Supply Corps, Medical Corps, Medical Service Corps, Dental Corps, Nurse Corps, Chaplain Corps, Civil Engineer Corps, Judge Advocate General Corps, Navy Band Corps The term "line" officer means someone who may command a warship or an aviation unit. It is a carryover from the 18th-century British tactic of employing warships in a "line" to take advantage of cannons on each side of the ship. The captains of such vessels commanded "ships of the line." Today, all Navy line officers wear a star on the sleeves of uniforms near the cuff braid that denotes rank. Staff officers wear different insignias. Note: Marine Corps officers, also part of the Department of the Navy, are all considered "line" officers because they are qualified as troop commanders in addition to their specialties. Commissioned officers originate from the United States Naval Academy, Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC), Officer Candidate School (OCS), direct commission, and other commissioning programs (such as [https://www.sta-21.navy.mil/ Seaman to Admiral-21] and Limited Duty Officer programs).

Enlisted

Enlisted members of the Navy have paygrades from E-1 to E-9. Enlisted members with superior performance may be advanced in paygrade. Two notably significant advancements are Seaman to Petty Officer Third Class (E-3 to E-4) and Petty Officer First Class to Chief Petty Officer (E-6 to E-7). Advancement to Chief Petty Officer is especially significant, marked by a special initiation ceremony. See U.S. Navy enlisted rate insignia for a complete list of the paygrades. All new active-duty enlisted members receive basic training ("boot camp") at the Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois. Those who have a contract for a specific rating continue onto "A" schools for training in the rating. Those who don't have a specific rating go into the fleet to learn on the job and later strike for a rating. Some members may go to additonal training in a "C" school either before a tour of duty, or after a tour of duty. A "C" school assigns a member a Navy Enlisted Classification code, or NEC, which shows that a sailor is able to perform a specific task requiring that NEC, such as NEC 2780 - Network Security Vulnerablity Technician. Enlisted members of paygrades E-4 and above are said to be "rated" and have a rating: an occupational specialty. As of June 2005, there are more than 50 ratings, including Boatswain's Mate, Quartermaster, Engineman, Damage Controlman, Electronics Technician, Information Systems Technician, Air Traffic Controller, Fire Control Technician, Gunner's Mate, Sonar Technician, Construction Mechanic, Hospital Corpsman, Yeoman, Disbursing Clerk, Culinary Specialist, Photographer's Mate, Musician, Master-at-Arms, Aviation Electronics Technician, and Cryptologic Technician. Some ratings have subspecialties acquired either through an initial "A" school for training (such as Cryptologic Technician Technical and Cryptologic Technician Collection) or through a separate "C" school (such as Aviation Electronics Technician Organizational and Aviation Electronics Technician Intermediate.)

Qualifications

Sailors prove they have mastered skills and deserve responsibilities by completing Personal Qualification Standards (PQS) tasks and examinations. Among the most important is the "warfare qualification," which denotes a journeyman level of capability in Aviation Warfare, Special Warfare, Surface Warfare, or Submarine Warfare. Many qualifications are denoted on a sailor's uniform with U.S. Navy badges and insignia.

Sea Warrior

Launched in 2003 as part of the Navy's [http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/cno/proceedings.html Sea Power 21] transformation plan, Sea Warrior is intended to link the fleet's personnel processes (recruiting, training, and assigning) with acquisition processes (buying ships, aircraft, etc.) in a way that also improves each individual sailor's ability to guide his or her own career in a satisfying direction. The aim is to more efficiently muster the right number of sailors with the right skills and seniority at each ship, squadron, and duty station. Sea Warrior is led by the Chief of Naval Personnel[http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/people/flags/biographies/hoewinggl.html], and the commander of the [https://www.cnet.navy.mil/netc/netc.html Naval Education and Training Command].

Naval culture

Navy sailors are trained in the core values of Honor, Courage, Commitment. Sailors cope with boredom on long cruises of six months to a year, and cherish their time in their home ports, as well as vacations at ports abroad.

Naval jack

Chief of Naval Personnel Chief of Naval Personnel Chief of Naval Personnel The naval jack of the United States is the First Navy Jack, first used during the American Revolutionary War. On May 31, 2002, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England directed all U.S. naval ships to fly the First Navy Jack for the duration of the War on Terrorism. Many ships chose to shift colors on September 11, 2002. The jack is flown from the bow of the ship and the ensign from the stern when the ship is moored or anchored. When underway, the ensign is flown from the main mast. The former naval jack was a blue field with 50 white stars, identical to the canton of the ensign, both in appearance and size. A jack of similar design was first used in 1794, though with 13 stars arranged in a 3–2–3–2–3 pattern.

Naval jargon

Main article: Military slang A distinct jargon has developed among sailors over the course of the last four centuries. Naval jargon is spoken by American sailors as a normal part of their daily speech. There are three distinct components of Naval jargon:
- Words that are unique to sailing and have no use in standard English, such as yardarm, bow, and stern.
- Archaic English that remains common in naval jargon, such as "aye" (the common English word for "Yes" until the 16th century), "Fo'c'sle" (from Fore Castle), and Bo'sun (from "Boat Swain", swain being Middle English for a young man or a servant).
- Modern jargon, such as "Bird" to refer to missiles, or 1MC. See U.S. Navy slang for more information. Also see Covey Crump.
Notable members of the U.S. Navy
Covey Crump Officers
- Vern Clark — former Chief of Naval Operations
- Robert Dennison — retired admiral, presidential aide
- George Dewey — Hero of the Battle of Manila Bay in Spanish-American War; first and only Admiral of the Navy
- David Farragut — American Civil War Admiral, first officer to become an Admiral in the U.S. Navy
- Wilson Flagg — retired Admiral, killed in Sept 11 attack
- William Halsey, Jr. — Third Fleet Commander, won battles off Guadalcanal and the Solomons; attained rank of Fleet Admiral (5 stars)
- Esek Hopkins — first Commander in Chief of the navy during the Revolutionary War
- Grace Hopper — early computing pioneer, attained the rank of Rear Admiral in the Navy Reserve
- John Paul Jones — commander during the American Revolutionary War, considered to be the founder of the American Naval tradition
- Ernest King — Fleet Admiral; former Chief of Naval Operations
- William D. Leahy — first Fleet Admiral; first head of the Chiefs of Staff (before the post was renamed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff); former Chief of Naval Operations; former Governor of Puerto Rico; former U.S. ambassador to France
- Richard Marcinko — author, founder and commander of SEAL Team Six
- Chester Nimitz — Fleet Admiral; former Chief of Naval Operations; signed for the U.S. when Japan formally surrendered onboard the USS Missouri, class of carriers named after him
- Matthew Perry — Commodore who forced the opening of Japan
- Eli Thomas Reich — Vice Admiral, only submariner to sink a Japanese battleship unaided during WW2.
- Hyman G. Rickover — Admiral, "Father of the Nuclear Navy"
- Raymond A. Spruance -Commander at the Battle of Midway, led the Fifth Fleet in the Central Pacific and Okinawa. Rebuilt the Naval War College after World War II Politicians
- George H. W. Bush — former U.S. President; youngest Naval Aviator in World War II; former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
- Jimmy Carter — former U.S. President; Cold War submariner and Peace Prize laureate
- Glenn Robert Davis — former member of the US House of Representatives
- Gerald Ford — former U.S. President; served aboard carrier during World War II
- Lyndon B. Johnson — former U.S. President; worked as a bomb observer with the Army during World War II
- John F. Kennedy — former U.S. President; decorated PT Boat commander in World War II
- John Kerry — junior U.S. Senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate; swift boat commander during the Vietnam War
- John McCain — senior U.S. Senator from Arizona and Republican presidential primary candidate in 2000; former naval aviator and POW
- Richard M. Nixon — former U.S. President; supply officer in World War II Astronauts
- Neil Armstrong — astronaut, first man on the moon
- James Lovell — naval aviator, astronaut, pilot of first lunar orbit flight (Apollo 8) and commander of Apollo 13 mission
- Alan Shepard — naval aviator, first American in space (Mercury-Redstone 3) and Apollo 14 commander
- John Young — naval aviator and Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle astronaut Others
- Bill Cosby — actor, comedian and educational philanthropist
- Lenny Bruce — American comedian
- Robert A. Heinlein — science fiction author
- L. Ron Hubbard — science fiction author and founder of the Church of Scientology
- David Robinson — former NBA star (San Antonio Spurs), commonly nicknamed "The Admiral"
- Bill Sharman — basketball Hall of Famer
- Roger Staubach — football hall of Famer, Vietnam veteran
- Jesse Ventura — actor, professional wrestler, Governor of Minnesota
See also

- Continental Navy
- Electronics Technician rating
- Information Systems Technician rating
- Seabees, US Navy Construction Battalions, hence CBs
- Navy SEAL, special forces
- BUPERS
- Fleet Week
- WAVES
- Ship-Submarine recycling program
- U.S. Navy officer rank insignia
- U.S. Navy enlisted rate insignia
- Unrestricted Line Officer
- Restricted Line Officer
- Limited Duty Officer
- Awards and decorations of the United States military
- Military badges of the United States
- United States armed forces
- United States Secretary of the Navy
- Comparative military ranks
- List of United States Navy bases
- List of ships of the United States Navy
- List of active Navy ships, sorted by homeport
- List of units of the United States Navy
- U.S. Navy munitions
- Navy Band
- Eternal Father Strong to Save (the U.S. Navy hymn)
References

- [http://www.navy.mil Official U.S. Navy Website]
- [http://www.hq.navy.mil/ Department of the Navy Website]
- [https://www.nko.navy.mil Navy Knowledge Online]
- [http://www.seawarrior.navy.mil Sea Warrior]
- [http://www.nosi.org Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)] — a digital library of world naval operational news, curated from open source intelligence, and intended to serve as a source of continuing education on naval and military affairs
- [http://www.microworks.net/pacific/ U.S. Navy in WW II] — a web site devoted to the U.S. navy in the Pacific theater during World War II
External links

- [http://www.navsource.org NavSource Naval History - Photographic History Of The U.S. Navy ] — a source of thousands of photographs of US Navy ships.
- [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/us_battleship_list.htm Maritimequest US Battleship photo gallery]
- [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ The Offical Chronology of the US Navy In World War II]
- Category:Navies ja:アメリカ海軍

Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea (anc. Mare Erythraeum) is the part of the Indian Ocean bounded East by India, North by Baluchistan and part of the southern Persian littoral, West by Arabian Peninsula, and South, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somaliland, and Cape Comorin in India. It was known as the Sindhu Sagar to Indians in the Vedic period of their history. It has two important branches--at the south-west the Gulf of Aden, connecting with the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb; and at the north-west the Gulf of Oman, connecting with the Persian Gulf. Besides these larger ramifications, there are the Gulfs of Cambay and Kach on the Indian coast. An interest and importance belong to this sea as forming part of the chief highway between Europe and India. Its islands are few, the chief being Sokotra, off the African, and the Laccadives, off the Indian coast. The maximum width of the Arabian Sea is approximately 2,400 km, and its maximum depth is 4,652 metres, in the Arabian Basin approximately at the same latitude as the southernmost tip of India. The Indus River, also known as the Sindhu river, is the only considerable river flowing directly into this sea. In the northwest it narrows to form the Gulf of Oman which in turn connects to the Persian Gulf at the Strait of Hormuz. The countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are India, Iran, Oman, Pakistan, Yemen, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Somalia and the Maldives. Cities on the coast include Mumbai (Bombay), (India) and Karachi, (Pakistan). Famous beaches on the coast include
- beaches of Karachi, Clifton beach
- the beaches of Goa
- Juhu Beach, Mumbai
- Kovalam beach in Kerala

References

- Category:Arabia Category:Seas Category:Indian Ocean ko:아라비아 해 ja:アラビア海

Iran-Iraq War

The Iran-Iraq War, also called the First Persian Gulf War, or the Imposed War (جنگ تحمیلی) in Iran, was a war between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran lasting from September 1980 to August 1988. It was commonly referred to as the (Persian) Gulf War until the Iraq-Kuwait conflict (1990–91), which became known as the Second Persian Gulf War and later simply the Persian Gulf War. The war began when Iraq invaded Iran on September 22 1980 following a long history of border disputes. The conflict saw early successes by the Iraqis, but before long they were repulsed and the conflict stabilized into a long war of attrition. The United Nations Security Council called upon both parties to end the conflict on multiple occasions, but a ceasefire was not agreed to until August 20 1988, and the last prisoners of war were not exchanged until 2003. The war irrevocably altered politics in the area, playing into wider global politics and leading to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Background

Although the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–1988 was a war over dominance of the Persian Gulf region, the roots of the war go back many centuries. There has always been rivalry between various kingdoms of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and Persia (Iran). Before the Ottoman empire, Iraq was part of Persia ruled under the Aq Qoyunlu dynasty. The rising power of the Ottomans put an end to this when Murad IV annexed what is today Iraq from the weakening Safavid Persia in 1638. The border disputes between Persia and the Ottomans never ended however: between 1555 and 1975, Persia and Turkey signed no less than 18 treaties re-addressing their disputed borders. Modern Iraq was created with the British involvement in the region and the final collapse of the Ottoman empire, hence inheriting all the disputes with Persia. More precisely, the origins of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–1988 go back to the question of sovereignty over the resource-rich province of Khuzestan. Khuzestan, home to Iran's Elamite Empire, was an independent non-Semitic speaking kingdom whose capital was Susa. Khuzestan has, however, been attacked and occupied by various kingdoms of Mesopotamia (the precursors of modern Iraq) many times. On 18 December 1959, Abdul Karim Qassim, who had just taken control over Iraq by a coup d'etat, openly declared: "We do not wish to refer to the history of Arab tribes residing in Al-Ahwaz and Mohammareh [Khorramshahr]. The Ottomans handed over Mohammareh, which was part of Iraqi territory, to Iran." The Iraqi regime's dissatisfaction over Iran's possession of oil-rich Khuzestan province was not limited to rhetorical statements; Iraq started supporting secessionist movements in Khuzestan, and even raised the issue of its territorial claims in the next meeting of the Arab League, without any success. Iraq showed reluctance in fulfilling existing agreements with Iran, especially after the death of Egyptian President Gamal Nasser and the rise of the Ba'ath Party, when Iraq decided to take on the role of "leader of the Arab world". In 1969, the deputy prime minister of Iraq openly declared: "Iraq's dispute with Iran is in connection with Arabistan [Khuzestan] which is part of Iraq's soil and was annexed to Iran during foreign rule." Soon Iraqi radio stations began exclusively broadcasting into "Arabistan", encouraging Iranian Arabs and even Baluchis to revolt against Iran's central government. Basra TV stations even started showing Iran's Khuzestan province as part of Iraq's new province called Nassiriyeh, renaming all Iranian cities with Arabic names. In 1971, Iraq broke off diplomatic relations from Iran after claiming sovereignty rights over the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb in the Persian Gulf, following the withdrawal of the British. Iraq then expelled 70,000 Iranians from Iraq after complaining to the Arab League, and the UN, without any success. One of the factors contributing to hostility between the two powers was a dispute over full control of the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the head of the Persian Gulf, an important channel for the oil exports of both countries. In 1975, United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had sanctioned that Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, attack Iraq over the waterway, which was under Iraqi control at the time; soon afterward both nations signed the Algiers Accord, in which Iraq made territorial concessions, including the waterway, in exchange for normalized relations. Iraq had staged a battle against Iranian forces a year earlier in 1974, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. Iran attempted to destabilize Iraq and encouraged Kurdish nationalists to break up the country, in answer to Iraq's similar activities in Iran's Khuzestan province. Iran's embassy in London was even attacked by Iraqi terrorist forces a few months before the war in 1980, in what came to be known as The Iranian Embassy Siege. Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein, was eagerly interested in elevating Iraq to a strong regional power. A successful invasion of Iran would make Iraq the dominating force in the Persian Gulf region and its lucrative oil trade. Such lofty ambitions were not that far-fetched. Severe officer purges (including several executions ordered by Sadegh Khalkhali, the post-revolution Sharia ruler) and spare part shortages for Iran's American-made equipment had crippled Iran's once mighty military. The bulk of the Iranian military was made up of poorly armed, though committed, militias. Iran had minimal defenses in the Arvand/Shatt al-Arab river. The aftermath of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 was central to the conflict. The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was threatening to export Islamic revolution to the rest of the Middle East, even though Iran was hardly in any position to do so militarily, for most of the Shah's army had already been disbanded. The Khomeinist camp despised Iraq's Ba'athist secularism in particular, and believed that the oppressed Shi'ites in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait could follow the Iranian example and turn against their governments. At the same time the revolution in Iran, the destabilization of the country and its alienation from the West made it a tempting target to the expansionist Saddam Hussein. In particular he felt that Iranian Sunni citizens would rather join a powerful Sunni-led Iraq than remain in the Shia dominated Iran. Thus both sides entered the war believing that citizens of the southern portions of the enemy's country - Sunnis in Iran and Shia in Iraq - would join the opposing forces. Neither seems to have fully appreciated the powers of nationalism over historically clan-centered differences, nor the power of the central state apparatus who controlled the press. In the end both were surprised to find their expected allies turning against them as invaders. The UN Secretary General report dated 9 December 1991 (S/23273) explicitly states "Iraq's aggression against Iran" in starting the war and breaching International security and peace. (See also "Who started the Iran-Iraq war?" by R.K. Ramazani, [http://www.student.virginia.edu/~vjil/ The Virginia Journal of International Law] 33, Fall 1992, pp. 69–89)

Invasion and repulse

1991 The two nations severed diplomatic relations in June 1980, and sporadic border clashes increased. On September 17, Iraq declared the Shatt al-Arab part of its territory. Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on September 22 1980, claiming as a pretext an assassination attempt on Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz blamed on Iran. The objectives of Iraq's invasion of Iran were summed as follow: #Acquisition of the Arvand/Shatt al-Arab waterway as part of Iraqi territory (Iraq's only port connection to The Persian Gulf). #Acquisition of the three islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, on the unilateral behalf of the UAE. #Annexing Khuzestan (or "Arabistan") as part of Iraqi territory. The surprise offensive advanced quickly against the still disorganized Iranian forces, advancing on a wide front into Iranian territory along the Mehran-Khorramabad axis in Central Iran and towards Ahvaz in the oil-rich southern province of Khuzestan. Iraq encountered unexpected resistance, however. Rather than turning against the Ayatollah's government as exiles had promised, the people of Iran rallied around their revolution and mounted far stiffer resistance; an estimated 100,000 volunteers arrived at the front by November. An Iraqi Air Force attack on Iranian airfields was ineffectual, and the Iraqis soon found the Iranian military was not nearly as depleted as they had thought. In June of 1982, a successful Iranian counter-offensive recovered the areas previously lost to Iraq. Most of the fighting for the rest of the war occurred on Iraqi territory, although some have interpreted the Iraqi withdrawal as a tactical ploy by the Iraqi military. By fighting just inside Iraq, Saddam Hussein could rally popular Iraqi patriotism. The Iraqi army could also fight on its own territory and in well- established defensive positions. The Iranians continued to employ unsophisticated human wave attacks, while Iraqi soldiers remained, for the most part, in a defensive posture. tactical, then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein boasted he would be in Tehran in 3 days.]] Iraq offered a cessation of hostilities in 1982, but Iran's insistence from July 1982 onward to destroy the Iraqi government prolonged the conflict for another six years of static warfare. The newly declassified US intelligence (SNIE 34/36.2-82 available at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB167/) which explores both the domestic and foreign implications of Iran's apparent (in 1982) victory over Iraq in their then two-year old war shows how US was behind the prolonged conflict to keep Iran from winning the war for numerous reasons which were against the interests of the US.

The Tanker War and U.S. entanglement

The United States had been wary of the Tehran regime since the Iranian Revolution, not least because of the detention of its Tehran embassy staff in the 1979–81 Iran hostage crisis. Starting in 1982 with Iranian success on the battlefield, the U.S. made its backing of Iraq more pronounced, supplying it with intelligence, economic aid, normalizing relations with the government (broken during the 1967 Six-Day War), and allegedly also supplying weapons [http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php]. Starting in 1981, both Iran and Iraq attacked oil tankers and merchant ships, including those of neutral nations, in an effort to deprive the opponent of trade. After repeated Iraqi attacks on Iran's main exporting facility on Khark Island, Iran attacked a Kuwaiti tanker near Bahrain on May 13 1984, and a Saudi tanker in Saudi waters on May 16. Attacks on ships of noncombatant nations in the Gulf sharply increased thereafter, and this phase of the war was dubbed the "Tanker War." May 16 Lloyd's of London, a British insurance market, estimated that the Tanker War damaged 546 commercial vessels and killed about 430 civilian mariners. The largest of attacks were directed by Iran against Kuwaiti vessels, and on November 1 1986, Kuwait formally petitioned foreign powers to protect its shipping. The Soviet Union agreed to charter tankers starting in 1987, and the United States offered to provide protection for tankers flying the U.S. flag on March 7 1987 (Operation Earnest Will and Operation Prime Chance). Under international law, an attack on such ships would be treated as an attack on the U.S., allowing the U.S. to retaliate militarily. This support would protect ships headed to Iraqi ports, effectively guaranteeing Iraq's revenue stream for the duration of the war. An Iraqi plane accidentally attacked the USS Stark, a Perry class frigate on May 17, killing 37 and injuring 21. But U.S. attention was on isolating Iran; it criticized Iran's mining of international waters, and sponsored [http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S/RES/598%20(1987)&Lang=E&Area=RESOLUTION UN Security Council Resolution 598], which passed unanimously on July 20, under which it skirmished with Iranian forces. In October 1987, the U.S. attacked Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for an Iranian attack on the U.S.-flagged tanker Sea Isle City. On April 14 1988, the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts was badly damaged by an Iranian mine. U.S. forces responded with Operation Praying Mantis on April 18, the United States Navy's largest engagement of surface warships since World War II. Two Iranian ships were destroyed, and an American helicopter was shot down, killing the two pilots. In the course of these escorts by the U.S. Navy, the cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 with the loss of all 290 passengers and crew on July 3 1988. The American government claimed that the airliner had been mistaken for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat, and that the Vincennes was operating in international waters at the time and feared that it was under attack. It has since emerged, however, that the Vincennes was in fact in Iranian territorial waters, and that the Iranian passenger jet was turning away and increasing altitude after take-off. The U.S. paid compensation but never apologised. It has often been suggested that the bombing by Arab terrorists of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie was a direct retaliation for the shooting down of Iran Air 655. Through all of this members of the Reagan Administration had, at the same time, also been secretly selling weapons to Iran; first indirectly (possibly through Israel) and then directly. It claimed that the administration hoped Iran would, in exchange, persuade several radical groups to release Western hostages. (for details see the Iran-Contra Affair). The money from the sales was channeled to equip the Nicaraguan contrarevolutionaries, right-wing rebels.

"War of the Cities"

Nicaragua Toward the end of the war, the land conflict regressed into stalemate. Both Iraq and Iran lacked sufficient self-propelled artillery to support their respective armored forces in assaults. This was made even more important because neither side had the air force capability to support ground forces. When the relatively professional Iraqi armed force advance was halted by the sheer size and committment of Iranian infantry and the Iranian infantry moved to advance itself; it faced the terrible prospect that the Iraqis had large numbers of towed artillery while the Iranians had comparatively small numbers of towed artillery with even fewer numbers of self-propelled ones. Artillery was important to force an opponent to disperse, dig in its tanks and permit enemy infantry to take over. Without sufficient artillery Iranian tanks were vulnerable to Iraqi infantry, artillery, anti-tank missiles and crucially were not able to achieve local force superiority. What followed was a blood bath with the Iranians substituting infantry for artillery. Both sides turned to more brutal weapons and tactics. Iraq's air force soon began strategic bombing against Iranian cities, chiefly Tehran, starting in 1985. In response to these, Iran began launching SS-1 "Scud" missiles against Baghdad, and Iraq responded by launching the same against Tehran. In October of 1986, Iraqi aircraft even attacked civilian passenger trains and aircraft, including an Iran Air Boeing 737 airliner unloading passengers at Shiraz International Airport. Thirty four elementary and high schools were attacked by Iraqi warplanes in 1986 alone, killing hundreds of children. (source: IRNA archives) In retaliation for the successful Iranian Karbala-5 operation in the fronts, during the course of 42 days, Iraq attacked 65 cities in 226 sorties, bombing civilian neighborhoods. Eight Iranian cities came under the attack of Iraqi missiles. Sixty-five children were killed during bombings in an elementary school in Borujerd alone. These events became known as "the war of the cities". (Source: ibid.) The extreme brutality of the war further included the use of chemical weapons, especially tabun, by Iraq. International antipathy to the Tehran regime meant Iraq suffered few repercussions despite these attacks. The UN eventually condemned Iraq for using chemical weapons against Iran, after the war. Chemicals weapons had not been used in any major war since World War II. Iraq financed, with foreign assistance, the purchase of more technologically advanced weapons, and built more modern, well-trained armed forces. After setbacks on the battlefield it offered to return to the 1975 border. Iran was internationally isolated and facing rising public discontent. Finally, a cease-fire was agreed to on August 20 1988.

Arming the combatants

Iraq's army was primarily armed with weaponry it had purchased from the Soviet Union and its satellites in the preceding decade. During the war, it purchased billions of dollars worth of advanced equipment from the Soviets and the French [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3324053.stm], as well as from the People's Republic of China, Egypt, Germany, and other sources (including Europe and facilities for making and/or enhancing chemical weapons). Germany [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,716376,00.html] along with other Western countries (among them United Kingdom, France, Spain (Explosivos Alaveses), Italy and the United States) provided Iraq with biological and chemical weapons technology and the precursors to nuclear capabilities. Much of Iraq's financial backing came from other Arab states, notably oil-rich Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Iran's foreign supporters included Syria and Libya, through which it obtained Scuds. It purchased weaponry from North Korea and the People's Republic of China, notably the Silkworm antiship missile. Iran acquired weapons and parts for its Shah-era U.S. systems through covert arms transactions from officials in the Reagan Administration, first indirectly (possibly through Israel) and then directly. It was hoped Iran would, in exchange, persuade several radical groups to release Western hostages, though this did not result; proceeds from the sale were diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras in what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

Aircraft

During the war, Iran operated U.S.-manufactured F-4 Phantom and F-5 Freedom Fighter fighters, as well as AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters. It also operated a number of F-14 Tomcat fighters, which proved devastating to the Iraqis in the early phases of the war. However, due to the Iranian government's estrangement, spare parts were difficult to obtain, and many aircraft were cannibalized as the war continued. The few F-14s still flying by the mid-1980s were mostly used for reconnaissance. These were supported by KC-135s, a refueling tanker based on the Boeing 707.[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/airforce.htm] Iraq's air force used Soviet weapons and reflected Soviet training, although it expanded and upgraded its fleet considerably as the war progressed. It conducted strategic bombing using Tupolev Tu-16 Badgers. Its fighters included the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, later supplemented by large purchases of Sukhoi Su-22s and French Dassault Mirage F1s. It also deployed the Anglo-French Aérospatiale Gazelle attack helicopter and the Exocet antiship missile.[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/airforce.htm]

U.S.-Iraqi arms transfers in the war

Exocet–20, 1983. Rumsfeld visited again on 24 March 1984; the same day the UN released a report that Iraq had used mustard and Tabun nerve gas against Iranian troops. The NY Times reported from Baghdad on 29 March 1984, that "American diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with Iraq and the U.S., and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been established in all but name." [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/ NSA Archive Source] ]] Western support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war has clearly been established. It is no secret that the Soviet Union, West Germany, France, many western companies, and Britain provided military support and even components of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction program. The role the United States played in the war against Iran however, although minor in comparison, is not as well known. After the revolution, with the Ayatollahs in power and levels of enmity between Iran and the U.S. running high, early on during the Iran-Iraq war, realpolitikers in Washington came to the conclusion that Saddam was the lesser of the two evils, and hence efforts to support Iraq became the order of the day, both during the long war with Iran and afterward. This led to what later became known as the Iraq-gate scandals. Much of what Iraq received from the West, however, were not arms per se, but so-called dual-use technology— mainframe computers, armored ambulances, helicopters, chemicals, and the like, with potential civilian uses as well as military applications. It is now known that a vast network of companies, based in the U.S. and elsewhere, fed Iraq's warring capabilities right up until August 1990, when Saddam invaded Kuwait [http://www.cjr.org/archives.asp?url=/93/2/iraqgate.asp]. The Iraq-gate scandal revealed that an Atlanta branch of Italy's largest bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, relying partially on U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed loans, funneled $5 billion to Iraq from 1985 to 1989. In August 1989, when FBI agents finally raided the Atlanta branch of BNL, the branch manager, Christopher Drogoul, was charged with making unauthorized, clandestine, and illegal loans to Iraq—some of which, according to his indictment, were used to purchase arms and weapons technology. Beginning in September, 1989, the Financial Times laid out the first charges that BNL, relying heavily on U.S. government-guaranteed loans, was funding Iraqi chemical and nuclear weapons work. For the next two and a half years, the Financial Times provided the only continuous newspaper reportage (over 300 articles) on the subject. Among the companies shipping militarily useful technology to Iraq under the eye of the U.S. government, according to the Financial Times, were Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, and Matrix Churchill, through its Ohio branch [http://www.cjr.org/archives.asp?url=/93/2/iraqgate.asp]. Even before the Persian Gulf War started in 1990, the Intelligencer Journal of Pennsylvania in a string of articles reported: "If U.S. and Iraqi troops engage in combat in the Persian Gulf, weapons technology developed in Lancaster and indirectly sold to Iraq will probably be used against U.S. forces ... And aiding in this ... technology transfer was the Iraqi-owned, British-based precision tooling firm Matrix Churchill, whose U.S. operations in Ohio were recently linked to a sophisticated Iraqi weapons procurement network." [http://www.cjr.org/archives.asp?url=/93/2/iraqgate.asp] Aside from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and ABC's Ted Koppel, the Iraq-gate story never picked up much steam, even though The U.S. Congress became involved with the scandal. [http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1992/h920519l.htm FAS report] In December 2002, Iraq's 1,200 page Weapons Declaration revealed a list of Western corporations and countries—as well as individuals—that exported chemical and biological materials to Iraq in the past two decades. Many American names were on the list. Alcolac International, for example, a Maryland company, transported thiodiglycol, a mustard gas precursor, to Iraq. A Tennessee manufacturer contributed large amounts of a chemical used to make sarin, a nerve gas implicated in so-called Gulf War Syndrome. A [http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/23/news-crogan.php full list] of those companies and their involvements in Iraq [http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/18/features-crogan1.php] [http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/18/features-crogan2.php]. On 25 May 1994, The U.S. Senate Banking Committee released a report in which it was stated that pathogenic (meaning disease producing), toxigenic (meaning poisonous) and other biological research materials were exported to Iraq, pursuant to application and licensing by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It added: These exported biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction. [http://www.gulfwarvets.com/arison/banking.htm] The report then detailed 70 shipments (including anthrax bacillus) from the United States to Iraqi government agencies over three years, concluding It was later learned that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the UN inspectors found and recovered from the Iraqi biological warfare program. See another list [http://cns.miis.edu/research/wmdme/flow/iraq/seed.htm here], and [http://groups.msn.com/exposureofthetruth/biologicalssoldtoiraq.msnw another here]. 843 companies has been listed as being involved in the arming of Iraq. [http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=us_support_of_iraq_wmd_843] Twenty-four U.S. firms exported arms and materials to Baghdad [http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php]. Donald Riegle, Chairman of the Senate committee that made the report, said, "UN inspectors had identified many United States manufactured items that had been exported from the United States to Iraq under licenses issued by the Department of Commerce, and [established] that these items were used to further Iraq's chemical and nuclear weapons development and its missile delivery system development programs." He added, "the executive branch of our government approved 771 different export licenses for sale of dual-use technology to Iraq. I think that is a devastating record." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control sent Iraq 14 agents "with biological warfare significance," including West Nile virus, according to Riegle's investigators [http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/16/Perspective/How_Iraq_built_its_we.shtml] [http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/politics/4186725.htm]. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust, released a list of U.S. companies and their exports to Iraq. See page [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b11.gif 11] of this report: [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b1.gif p1] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b2.gif p2] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b3.gif p3] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b4.gif p4] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b5.gif p5] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b6.gif p6] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b7.gif p7] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b8.gif p8] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b9.gif p9] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b10.gif p10] [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/images/b11.gif p11] A [http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=us_support_of_iraq_wmd timeline] of U.S. support for Saddam against Iran. Another [http://www.casi.org.uk/info/usdocs/usiraq80s90s.html timeline]. For the Statement of Henry B. Gonzalez, Chairman, House Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs on Iraq-gate, see links given on [http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/21/Features/iraq.html this page]. More sources:
- [http://foi.missouri.edu/terrorintelligence/ussentgerms.html University of Missouri School of Journalism database]
- [http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/Sussexreport.htm University of Sussex report]
- [http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/2001/1022iraq.htm A Global Policy Forum Report]
- [http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/report/riegle1.html Text of the U.S. Senate Riegle Report]
- [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/ NSA Archives]
- [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/18/1029114048796.html?oneclick=true Sydney Morning Herald report]

Weapons of Mass Destruction

With more than 100,000 Iranian victims of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons during the eight-year war, Iran is, after Japan, one of the world's top afflicted countries by Weapons of Mass Destruction. The official estimate does not include the civilian population contaminated in bordering towns or the children and relatives of veterans, many of whom have developed blood, lung and skin complications, according to the Organization for Veterans of Iran. Nerve gas agents killed about 20,000 Iranian soldiers immediately, according to official reports. Of the 90,000 survivors, some 5,000 seek medical treatment regularly and about 1,000 are still hospitalized with severe, chronic conditions. Many others were hit by mustard gas. Furthermore, 308 Iraqi missiles were launched at population centers inside Iranian cities between 1980 and 1988 resulting in 12,931 casualties. There is great resentment in Iran that the international community helped Iraq develop its chemical weapons arsenal and armed forces, and also that the world did nothing to punish Iraq for its use of chemical weapons against Iran throughout the war — particularly since the US and other western powers later felt obliged to oppose the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and eventually invade Iraq itself to remove Hussein. Also see The Chemical Attack on Halabja. Further reading on surviving veterans of these weapons:
- [http://www.nj.com/specialprojects/index.ssf?/specialprojects/mideaststories/me1209.html The New Jersey Star Ledger, report]
- [http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=39470 The South Africa Star, report]
- [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0213-05.htm The NY Times report]
- [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3068535/site/newsweek/ MSNBC report]
- [http://www.netiran.com/?fn=artd(1585) Report: Iranian WMD Veterans sue Germany]
- [http://www.payvand.com/news/00/nov/1108.html Vets suing the U.S.]
- [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1742878 NPR report on Iranian WMD veterans] (audio)
- [http://www.chronicillnet.org/PGWS/tuite/IRMED/IRANTOC.htm Medical reports] Center for Documents of The Imposed War, Tehran.

Human Wave Attacks in the Iran-Iraq War

The Chemical Attack on Halabja Many people claim that the Iran-Iraq conflict spawned a particularly gruesome variant of the "human wave" attack. The Iranian clergy, with no professional military training, were slow to adopt and apply professional military doctrine. The country at that time lacked sufficient equipment to breach Iraqi minefields and were not willing to risk their small tank force. Therefore, Pasdaran forces and Basij volunteers were often used to sweep over minefields and entrenched positions developed by the more professional Iraqi military. Allegedly, unarmed human wave tactics involving children as young as 9 were employed. One unnamed East European journalist is reported to have seen "tens of thousands of children, roped together in groups of about 20 to prevent the faint-hearted from deserting, make such an attack."[http://countrystudies.us/iraq/104.htm] There has been a suggestion that girls were more commonly used for frontline mine clearance, and boys for unarmed "assaults." Reliable firsthand accounts of the use of children in human wave attacks are rare, however. The most serious contemporary firsthand account recently surfaced at the end of an article[http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20041104.html] by the technology journalist Robert X. Cringely, who relates the experience of a trip to the front for an unconnected Penthouse magazine assignment. However, in recent years the credibility of Cringely's claims have suffered after it was revealed in 1998 that Cringely had falsely claimed a Ph.D. from Stanford University. [http://daily.stanford.org/Daily98-99/11-11-1998/news/tempo?page=content&id=4462&repository=0001_article (The Stanford Daily, Nov 11, 1998)]

Aftermath

The war was disastrous for both countries, stalling economic development and disrupting oil exports. It cost Iran an estimated 1.5 million casualties (1, p. 206), and $350 billion (1, p. 1). Iraq was left with serious debts to its former Arab backers, including US$14 billion loaned by Kuwait, a debt which contributed to Saddam's 1990 decision to invade. Much of both sides' oil industry was damaged in air raids. The war left the borders unchanged. Two years later, as war with the western powers loomed, Saddam recognized Iranian rights over the eastern half of the Shatt al-Arab, a reversion to the status quo ante bellum that he had repudiated a decade earlier. The war was extremely costly, one of the deadliest wars since the Second World War. (Conflicts since 1945 which have surpassed the Iran-Iraq War in terms of casualties include the Vietnam War, Korean War, the Second Sudanese Civil War, and the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Final ruling

On 9 December 1991, the UN Secretary-General reported the following to the UN Security Council: :That Iraq's explanations do not appear sufficient or acceptable to the international community is a fact. Accordingly, the outstanding event under the violations referred to is the attack of 22 September 1980, against Iran, which cannot be justified under the charter of the United Nations, any recognized rules and principles of international law or any principles of international morality and entails the responsibility for the conflict. :Even if before the outbreak of the conflict there had been some encroachment by Iran on Iraqi territory, such encroachment did not justify Iraq's aggression against Iran—which was followed by Iraq's continuous occupation of Iranian territory during the conflict—in violation of the prohibition of the use of force, which is regarded as one of the rules of jus cogens. :On one occasion I had to note with deep regret the experts' conclusion that "chemical weapons ha[d] been used against Iranian civilians in an area adjacent to an urban centre lacking any protection against that kind of attack" (s/20134, annex). The Council expressed its dismay on the matter and its condemnation in resolution 620 (1988), adopted on 26 August 1988.

List of successful Iranian operations during the war

#27 September 1981: Operation Thamen-ol-A'emeh. #29 November 1981: Operation Tarigh ol-Qods. #21 March 1982: Operation Fath-ol-Mobeen. #30 April 1982: Operation Beit-ol-Moqaddas. #14 July 1982: Operation Ramadhan. #9 April 1983: Operation Valfajr-1. #19 October 1983: Operation Valfajr-4. #22 February 1984: Operation Kheibar. #10 March 1985: Operation Badr. #9 February 1986: Operation Valfajr-8. #2 June 1986: Operation Karbala-1. #1 September 1986: Operation Karbala-2. #9 January 1986: Operation Karbala-5. #21 June 1987: Operation Nasr 4. #16 March 1988: Operation Valfajr-10. #27 July 1988: Operation Mersad.

References

- Martsching, Brad. "[http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/iraniraq.htm Iran-Iraq War and Waterway Claims]," American University Inventory of Conflict & Environment, May 1998.
- Center for Strategic and International Studies: [http://www.csis.org/burke/reports/9005lessonsiraniraqII-chap01.pdf The Lessons of Modern War: Volume Two - The Iran-Iraq Conflict], with Abraham R. Wagner, Westview, Boulder, 1990.
- Center for Strategic and International Studies: [http://www.csis.org/burke/sa/iranwmdbackground032700.pdf Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iran and Iraq ], March 27, 2000.
- GlobalSecurity.org: [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)]
- The Iran-Iraq war: the politics of aggression. Farhang Rajaee. Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 1993.
- UN Secretary General report to the UNSC: [http://www.irna.com/occasion/defence/english/un/page1.pdf p1] [http://www.irna.com/occasion/defence/english/un/page2.pdf p2]
- [http://www.irna.com/occasion/defence/english/un/page3.pdf p3].
- United States Marine Corps: [http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/docs/3203/ FMFRP 3-203 - Lessons Learned: Iran-Iraq War, 10 December 1990].

External links and further reading

- [http://www.ogrish.com/archives/footage_from_iraniraq_war_Oct_06_2005.html video footage from the war]
- BBC News: Reynolds, Paul. "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3324053.stm How Saddam could embarrass the West]," December 16, 2003. (regarding foreign powers which armed Iraq)
- [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/iraniraq.htm Global map of countries who took sides in the Iran-Iraq war]
- Saddam's Trial and Iran-Iraq War
- Arms sales to Iraq 1973-1990

Iranian sources

- Iran Chamber Society: King, John. "[http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php Arming Iraq: A Chronology of U.S. Involvement]," March 2003.
- [http://www.jao.ir/ Iran Veterans Affairs Organization]
- Iranian.com: [http://www.iranian.com/Revolution/war.html Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988] (memoirs, photos, and essays about the war).
- [http://www.janbazanesfahan.ir/ Isfahan's War Veterans Foundation]
- Islamic Republic News Agency, [http://www.irna.com/occasion/defence/ Sacred Defense Epic]
- [http://www.avini.com/ Martyr Avini's website]. A prominent photographer of the war.
- Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehra n. Category:Wars of Iran Category:Wars of Iraq ja:イラン・イラク戦争

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina