A landing party is a portion of a ship's crew designated to go ashore from the ship and take ground, by force if necessary. In the landing party promulgated by the US Navy 1950 Landing Party Manual, the party was to be equipped with

small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

– at least a rifle platoon for a destroyer; up to a rifle company plus machine gun platoon for a cruiser. Embarked Marines were to be used where possible.

History

Since the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

larger U.S. Navy warships had a detachment of

Marines Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...

. As the Marine detachments were small, it was sometimes necessary to supplement their numbers with armed sailors when making opposed landings. By the late 1800s, the Navy developed formal doctrines for the organization and use of landing parties. Prior to World War II, landing parties were used on at least 66 occasions during the 19th Century and 136 times in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

from 1900 to 1930. Two of the larger events were a naval landing party were used were the

Second Battle of Fort Fisher The Second Battle of Fort Fisher was a successful assault by the Union Army, Navy and Marine Corps against Fort Fisher, south of Wilmington, North Carolina, near the end of the American Civil War in January 1865. Sometimes referred to as the " ...

in 1865 and the Occupation of Vera Cruz in 1914. At Fort Fisher, a force of 1,600 sailors and 400 Marines (organized into three divisions of sailors and one of Marines), supplemented a Union Army corps in assaulting the fort. A total of 6 Marines and 40 sailors received the Medal of Honor for heroism at Fort Fisher. In 1918 the Navy published th
Landing Force Manual
which formalized doctrine for the employment of sailors as ground troops. Following World War I, the Marine Corps expanded to have the

Fleet Marine Force The United States Fleet Marine Forces (FMF) are combined general and special forces within the United States Department of the Navy that perform offensive amphibious or expeditionary warfare and defensive maritime employment. The Fleet Marine ...

which could take over most missions previously performed by naval landing parties. The last significant use of a naval landing party was during the

Battle of Bataan The Battle of Bataan (; 7 January – 9 April 1942) was fought by the United States and the Philippine Commonwealth against Imperial Japan during World War II. The battle represented the most intense phase of the Japanese invasion of the Phi ...

in early 1942. With no hope of relief, sailors from the Subic Bay Naval Station formed a naval infantry unit. They were supplemented by crew members from the disabled submarine tender USS ''Canopus''. In March 1942 they surrendered to the Japanese, along with other US forces on the

Bataan Peninsula Bataan (, , , ; ) , officially the Province of Bataan, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga, Bataan, Balanga while Mariveles, ...

and endured the

Bataan Death March The Bataan Death March was the Death march, forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of around 72,000 to 78,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war (POWs) from the municipalities of Bagac and Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula to Camp ...

. Of ''Canopus crew of about 550, 212 were listed as killed or missing in action. In World War II, amphibious landings were supported by large groups designated a "shore party". After World War II, the U.S. Navy organized Beachmaster Unit One and Beachmaster Unit Two. Following World War II, the Navy retained the doctrine of using sailors as ground troops but did not use them in practice. In 1950, a new edition of the Landing Party Manual was published, which superseded the Landing Force Manual of 1938. In 1960, the 1950 Landing Party Manual was superseded by an updated edition. Although landing parties are no longer part of U.S. Navy doctrine, the Navy's

Seabees United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

and

SEAL Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

s are trained and equipped for ground combat. In 1997 a group of Civil War re-enactors formed a unit called th
U.S. Naval Landing Party

History

See also

References

Further reading