List of operations conducted by SEAL Team Six

This is an incomplete list of operations conducted by the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

Invasion of Grenada

On 13 March 1979 the People's Revolutionary Army, led by Maurice Bishop, overthrew the newly independent government of the small island of Grenada and established a new regime based on socialist principles. This brought it into continuing conflict with the United States, as the administration of U.S. President Reagan considered the leftist government to be too closely allied to Cuba and the Soviet Union.[1]

On 12 October 1983 a hard-line faction of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Government of Grenada, controlled by former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, took control of the government from Bishop and placed him under house arrest. Within days, Bishop and many of his supporters were dead, and the nation had been placed under martial law. The severity of the violence, coupled with Coard's hard-line Marxism, caused deep concern among neighboring Caribbean nations, as well as in Washington, D.C. Adding to the U.S.' concern was the presence of nearly 1,000 American medical students in Grenada. On 25 October, the United States invaded Grenada, an operation codenamed Operation Urgent Fury.

SEAL Team SIX's Assault Group Three was to conduct a static line drop with boats a few miles away from the Grenadian coast.[2] One of two C-130 cargo planes transporting the SEALs to their drop point veered far off course. A rain squall accompanied by high winds broke out just before the SEALs conducted the water drop. Twelve SEAL Team SIX members with four Air Force Combat Controllers were airdropped with two Zodiac combat raiding craft. The team was dropped approximately at 21 miles from land to perform a reconnaissance mission on Point Salines for a suitable beach landing site. But delays in the insertion pushed the mission into the middle of night during a storm with low visibility and high seas. Four SEALs drowned upon landing while carrying a full assortment of weapons, ammunition and combat equipment. Kenneth J. Butcher, Kevin E. Lundberg, Stephen L. Morris and Robert R. Schamberger were never seen again. The survivors continued their mission but their zodiac boats flooded while evading a patrol boat and the engines would not restart, causing the mission to be aborted.[2] After the disastrous insertion, Assault Group Three was told to stand by and began preparing for the next mission. The next mission was to go to the governor general's mansion and secure Governor-General Paul Scoon, protect him and his family and move them out of the combat area.[3] A second mission was to capture and secure Grenada's only radio station so that it couldn't be used by the local military to incite the population or coordinate military actions.[3] There was almost no intelligence for either of these operations.[2]

Governor-General's mansion

To reach the governor-general's mansion, the SEALs were flown in on Black Hawk helicopters that morning, and fast-roped to the ground while under heavy enemy fire.[2] As they approached from the back of the mansion, the team found Governor Scoon hiding. The SEALs then continued to clear the rest of the house and began to set up a defensive perimeter to ensure security.[2] Soon the mansion started to take fire from men armed enemy soldiers with AK-47s and RPGs. As the incoming fire started to increase, Governor-General Scoon and his family were moved to a safer location in the house. After the incoming fire had decreased, three men wearing Cuban uniforms approached the mansion, all of them carrying AK-47s. The SEALs shouted for the three men to stop where they were. When the three men heard the yells, they raised their weapons. The SEALs opened fire on the Cubans and killed them almost instantly.[2]

Soon afterward, two BTR-60PBs rolled up to the mansion's gates. One of the BTRs at the mansion's front gate opened fire. Just as the SEALs were about to fire a M-72 LAW anti-tank rocket, the BTR backed off and left with the other BTR.[2] When the SEALs had been inserted into the compound, they left behind their long-range SATCOM radio on a helicopter;[2] the only communications the team had were through MX-360 radios. The team used the radios to communicate with a SEAL command post on the island to call in air strikes. As the radios' batteries started to fade, communications with the SEAL command post became weak. Once all the radios had died, when the SEALs urgently needed air support, they used a regular house phone to call JSOC,[2] which was able to get an AC-130H Spectre gunship to hold station over the SEALs' position to provide air support.

When morning came, a group of Force Recon Marines of 2nd Recon Battalion arrived to escort the SEALs, Governor-General Scoon, and his family to a point from where they were evacuated by helicopter.[2]

Radio station

A Soviet-made BTR-60PB armored personnel carrier seized by U.S. forces during Operation Urgent Fury

12 operators from SEAL Team SIX flew to the radio station on a Black Hawk helicopter.[4] The helicopter took small-arms fire on the insertion. Once the team inserted, it quickly overran the radio station compound and took enemy prisoners. The SEALs were told to hold the station until Governor Scoon and a broadcast team could be brought in.[2] After the team took control of the compound, it was not able to make radio contact with the SEAL command post. The SEALs set up a defensive perimeter while they continued to try to make radio contact. As this was happening, a BTR-60 armored personnel carrier arrived, and Grenadian soldiers disguised as station workers got out.[4] The soldiers carried weapons even in disguise.[4] The SEALs ordered the soldiers to drop the weapons. The soldiers opened fire but were quickly neutralized.

The SEALs continued trying to make radio contact, then another BTR and three trucks, carrying a dozen soldiers each, were spotted coming towards the station;[4] the soldiers flanked the building and the BTR covered the front entrance with its 14.5 mm KPV heavy machine gun. The incoming fire on the SEALs' position was becoming devastatingly heavy, and they were running out of ammunition. The SEALs were engaged with a numerically superior enemy force under fire from heavy automatic weapons including RPG-7, and 20-mm. cannon fire. The team realized that their only option was to change their original plan of holding the radio station, and instead destroy the radio transmitter, then extract towards the water following their pre-planned escape route out behind the station across a broad meadow that led to a path that cut between cliffs and a beach.[4] The meadow was exposed to Grenadian fire. The team leapfrogged across the exposed ground and took heavy fire suffering several wounded. Finally reaching the end of the field, cut through a chain-link fence, ran into dense brush, and followed the path to the beach. The Grenadians were still in pursuit, so the SEALs waded into the water and began swimming parallel to the shore until they found cliff ledges in which to hide;[4] once the Grenadians had given up the search they swam out to sea, where they were in the water for nearly six hours until a rescue plane spotted them and vectored a US Navy ship to pick them up.[4] The officer in charge, Lieutenant Donald Kim Erskine was wounded in the arm during the operation and was awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star for heroism and leadership in commanding the assault element. Three other SEAL Team SIX members were wounded during the operation.

Achille Lauro Hijacking

On October 7, 1985 an Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro carrying 400 passengers including American citizens was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists led by Mohammed Abul al-Abbas also known as Muhammad Zaidan. The ship was hijacked in the Mediterranean sea and forced to sail to Southern Syria. President Ronald Reagan approved deployment of Navy’s SEAL Team SIX and Delta Force operators to plan and prepare for a rescue attempt to free the vessel from its hijackers. On October 8, Syria refused permission for the ship to dock and subsequently the hijackers murdered Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly Jewish American businessman. The ship then sailed towards Port Said, Egypt. On October 9, SEAL Team SIX assault members embarked on board the USS Iwo Jima LPH-2 which steamed for Port Said. On October 10, the four terrorist hijackers boarded an Egypt Air Boeing 737 airliner and flew from Cairo and headed for Tunisia. President Reagan approved military plans to intercept the aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea. Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters located the airliner south of Crete and forced the pilots to land at NAS Sigonella, the NATO air base in Sicily. After the 737 touched down, two United States Air Force C-141 Starliftercargo planes landed with SEAL Team SIX who quickly surrounded the airplane but were then surrounded by Italian Carabinieri. The plane came to a stop on the Italian controlled portion at Sigonella and therefore was on Italian Soil. As the SEALs prepared to assault the airplane, negotiations between the United States, Egyptian and Italian authorities continued. The four hijackers were eventually taken off the plane into the custody of the Italians without further escalation of hostilities.

Panama

During Operation Just Cause in Panama, Special Operations Forces consisted of five unconventional task forces; GREEN (Army Delta Force), BLACK (3d Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group), RED (75th Ranger Regiment), BLUE (DEVGRU), and WHITE (Navy Sea-Air-Land, or SEAL Teams 4 and 2). DEVGRU's primary task, along with Delta Force, was locating and securing of Panamanian ruler General Manuel Noriega. Specific details of DEVGRU's involvement still remain classified.

Somalia

During Operation Gothic Serpent in Somalia, DEVGRU was a part of Task Force Ranger. TF Ranger was made up of operators from Delta Force, the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 160th SOAR, the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, and SEALs from DEVGRU. Eric T. Olson, John Gay, Howard Wasdin, Homer Nearpass and Richard Kaiser were the five SEALs that fought in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu during the last mission of Operation Gothic Serpent to capture the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.[5] Olson would receive the Silver Star for his actions which were cited as "... during combat actions in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993. While under withering enemy fire during actions in support of UNOSOM II operations, Captain Olson demonstrated a complete disregard for his own personal safety in the accomplishment of his mission".[6][7] Olson became commander of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group one year later.

NATO intervention in Bosnia, 1993–99

During NATO's intervention in the Bosnian War, the NSWDG operated alongside other members of NATO's Implementation Force, such as its Army counterpart Delta Force and the British SAS. These units were tasked with finding and apprehending persons indicted for war crimes (PIFWC) and returning them to The Hague to stand trial. Some of DEVGRU's PIFWC operations under team leader William Waddell included apprehending Goran Jelisić, Simo Zaric, Milan Simic, Miroslav Tadic, and Radislav Krstić.[8]

War in Afghanistan

Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan

SEAL Team Six during 2002 assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai

In Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), U.S. Special Operations forces played a central role in the fighting. It was also here they began to specialize in counter-terrorist tactics and information.[9]

During the coalition invasion of Afghanistan a squadron from DEVGRU were part of Task Force Sword (later renamed Task Force 11 in January 2002), which was established in early October 2001. it was a black SOF unit under direct command of JSOC. This was a so-called hunter-killer force whose primary objective was of capturing or killing senior leadership and HVT within both al-Qaeda and the Taliban. As part of Task Force Bowie, SEALS from DEVGRU were part of the AFOs - a 45-man reconnaissance unit made up of a Delta Force recce specialists augmented by selected SEALs from DEVGRU and supported by ISA's technical experts. The AFOs had been raised to support TF Sword and were tasked with intelligence preparation of the battlefield, working closely with the CIA and reported directly to TF Sword. AFO conducted covert reconnaissance - sending small 2 or 3 man teams into al-Qaeda 'Backyard' along the border with Pakistan, the AFO operators would deploy observation posts to watch and report enemy movements and numbers as well as environmental reconnaissance; much of the work was done on foot or ATVs.[10]

On February 28, 2002, on the eve of the Operation Anaconda, three AFO teams were infiltrated into the Shahikot Valley, one of them (known as Mako 31) was composed of three SEALs from DEVGRUs Recce Squadron, a USAF Combat controller and a US Navy EOD operator. They infiltrated the area on foot via the southern edge of the valley to set up an observation post on a terrain feature known as 'The Finger.' All three teams were tasked with confirming enemy strengths and dispositions including antiaircraft emplacements, ensuring the designated Rakkasan HLZs were clear of obstructions and providing terminal guidance for air support both prior to and during the insertion of conventional forces.[11] Near H-Hour on March 1, 2002, Mako 31 found a group of foreign fighters had an established positioned and were manning a DShK HMG on the peak where they planned to set up an observation post. If the DShK was not disabled before then it could shootdown Chinooks carrying the conventional forces, the SEALs planned to ambush the terrorists in the pre-dawn darkness before the Rakkasans flow into the valley. However they were spotted by an Uzbek insurgent and a brief firefight ensued, killing 5 out of 7 foreign fighters, as another insurgent firing a PKM, the team broke contact and brought in an AC-130 which destroyed the enemy encampment with 105mm rounds.[11] During the crucial Battle of Takur Ghar part of Operation Anaconda a small team of DEVGRU assigned to an AFO task force was tasked with establishing observation positions (OPs) on the high ground above the proposed landing zones of U.S. conventional forces. It was one of the most violent battles of Operation Anaconda. In the early hours of March 4, 2002 a MH-47E Chinook helicopter piloted by the U.S. Army's 160th SOAR "Nightstalkers" was carrying Mako 21 and Mako 30 teams mostly made up of SEALs from DEVGRU. The original plan was that MAKO 21 would to link up with AFO team Juliet at the northern end of the valley, resupply it and then establish a hide site/observation post on the eastern ridge above Task Force Rakkasan's blocking position; whilst MAKO 30 planned to establish an observation point on the peak of Takur Ghar, which commanded a view of the Shahi-Kot valley. Mako 30 would be inserted at a point 4,300 feet (1,300 m) east of the peak, but circumstances led the SEALs to choose the summit of Takur Ghar itself as the insertion point. As the helicopter was nearing its landing zone both the pilots and the men in the back observed fresh tracks in the snow, goatskins, and other signs of recent human activity. As the pilots and team discussed a mission abort, an RPG struck the side of the aircraft, wounding one crewman as machine gun bullets ripped through the fuselage, cutting hydraulic and oil lines. Fluid spewed about the ramp area of the helicopter. As the pilot struggled to get the helicopter away Neil C. Roberts, a DEVGRU SEAL in the ramp area of the aircraft, was hit and slipped on the oil as the helicopter took off. He fell approximately 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3.0 m) to the snowy ground below. Roberts immediately engaged enemy forces with his weapons including an Mk.46 Mod 0 Light Machine Gun, SIG Sauer P226 Mk.25 Mod 0 9mm semi automatic pistol and grenades. He survived at least 30 minutes before he was shot and killed at close range.[12] Mako 30 was inserted in an attempt to recover Roberts, the ran into a bunker housing 3 al-Qaeda fighters and killed them, then were engaged in a 20-minute firefight and suffered several wounded, forcing them to break contact and call for a QRF. On 17 March 2002, in the final days of Operation Anaconda, operators from DEVGRU (commanded by the SEAL who led the Mako 30 mission on Takur Ghar intercepted a convoy of al-Qaeda fighters travelling in 3 SUVs via 3 MH-47E Chinooks, with a mixed force of U.S. Army Rangers travelling in MH-60K Blackhawk helicopters as back up. After an ensuing firefight, 16 al-Qaeda fighters were killed and 2 seriously wounded were captured.[13]

On September 5, 2002, DEVGRU operators protected President Hamid Karzai during an assassination attempt in Kandahar. Allegedly one of their members was wounded[14]

In 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in a joint CIA and ISI operation in Pakistan and had to be flown out to a US Black site prison. Companies from the US Army Rangers and 82nd Airborne Division secured an improvised desert strip in a dry river bed near the Pakistani border, an MC-130H Combat Talon II plane landed and lowered its ramp. SEALs from DEVGRU appeared in Desert Patrol Vehicles carrying the detainee arrived and drove up the ramp into the back of the plane, which then taxied and lifted off.[15]

In September 2005, a British security contractor was kidnapped by Taliban insurgents in Farah Province, JSOC managed to locate the hostage and insurgents in a mountainous region of Bala Buluk. A DEVGRU team arrived in an early morning raid, but the Taliban murdered the hostage.[16]

In July 2006, a pair of MH-47Es from 160th SOAR attempted to insert a combined strike element of DEVGRU, Rangers and Afghan commandos in Helmand Province so it could attack a target compound. With some troops on the ground, a large insurgent force ambushed them, both helicopters were struck by small arms fire, one MH-47E pilot put his aircraft directly in the line of fire protecting the other MH-47E whose assault team it was carrying was still disembarking. Inevitably the MH-47E was hit by an RPG which caused it to crash-land, the skill of the Nightstalker pilots saved the operators and the aircrew, no one was seriously wounded in the crash. The Ranger commander and an attached Australian Commando organised an all-round defence while the other MH-47E held back the advancing insurgents until its miniguns ran out of ammunition, an AC-130 Spectre joined the battle and kept the down crew and passengers safe until a British Immediate Response Team helicopter successfully recovered them, the AC-130 then destroyed the MH-47E wreck - denying it to the Taliban.[17]

In 2007, a CIA source reported seeing Bin Laden in Tora Bora, a significant proportion of the ISR assets available in the theatre converged on the area, the initial plan based around a small helicopter assault force soon expanded to include U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret ODAs and a Ranger element to provide a cordon for the SEALs. Eventually the operation was launched under the cover of Air Force bombing, but after fruitless searching through the mountains, there was no sign of him.[16]

In June 2009, US Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban, over the 5 years that he was held by the Taliban and Haqqani Network, DEVGRU and Rangers "spun up" operations to rescue him, but each resulted in a "dry hole". One such operation carried out south of Kabul in July 2009 resulted in one SEAL seriously wounded and a combat assault dog killed.[18]

Death of Linda Norgrove, 8 October 2010

Linda Norgrove, a British aid worker, and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan, on 26 September 2010. The three Afghan aid workers were released on 3 October 2010 while negotiations over Norgrove's release were ongoing.[19] Signal intercepts and aerial ISR assets found Nosgrove in one of two Taliban hillside compounds in Korangal Valley and guarded by at least 6 insurgents. A troop from DEVGRU Silver squadron and two squads of U.S. Army Rangers of the 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a rescue attempt on at 0300 on 8 October 2010. A pair of Boeing MH-47E Chinooks covered by an Lockheed Martin AC-130U Spooky II Gunship and an armed MQ-1B Predator UAV, would have to insert the DEVGRU team directly on top of the target compound, due to the rocky terrain and lack of cover, the Rangers were inserted nearby to establish blocking positions and fire support positions overlooking the compound. The lead MH-47E arrived over the compound and the SEALs quickly fast roped to the ground, snipers from the second helicopter engaged and killed two guards with suppressed HK417, as the SEALs landed in the compound insurgents appeared from several small buildings and were immediately engaged, two were killed by an orbiting AC-130. The SEALs were then fired upon by an insurgent coming out of one of the buildings, fire was returned and the insurgent was killed, unknown to the SEALs the insurgent was dragging the hostage out of the building at the time and she received a gunshot wound to the leg, fearing more insurgents were in an area between two buildings, a SEAL operator threw a fragmentation grenade toward the area. The SEALs cleared the buildings, confirming all six insurgents killed, Nosgrove was found fatally wounded, initially it was thought she had been killed by an insurgent suicide bomb, only later did it emerge that the cause of her death was probably the SEAL grenade. In the after action reviews, the SEAL who threw the grenade did not admit to throwing it, until helmet camera footage was reviewed by the squadron commander, three operators were dismissed from the unit.[20]

Afghanistan helicopter crash, 6 August 2011

Fifteen members of DEVGRU's Gold Squadron "Golden Knights" were among the 38 killed on Saturday, 6 August 2011 in Maidan Wardak province, Afghanistan, when a Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter flown by B Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, was shot down by a Taliban-fired rocket-propelled grenade; the crash wiped out an entire troop. The personnel killed in the helicopter crash are said to have belonged to an "immediate reaction force" that were en route to intercept a group of Taliban who were escaping the area following an operation by United States Army Rangers.[21][22][23] It was the largest single loss of U.S. life since the beginning of the 2001 Afghan War, and is the largest single loss ever suffered by the SEALs.[24][25]

Operation Jubilee

On 22 May 2012, British aid worker Helen Johnston, a Kenyan NGO worker and two Afghan guides were captured and held captive by bandits in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. The bandits offered their release in exchange for a ransom that included the release of a notorious drug dealer; with the threat that the kidnappers may sell on the hostages to the Taliban (with whom they had already been in contact), coalition forces worked around the clock to locate them. Signal intercept teams got a fix on the kidnappers location, high altitude UAVs began constant pattern of life surveillance in an effort to establish exactly where the hostages being held, the number of kidnappers and their daily routes as well as approach routes for the SOF rescue teams. It was soon established that the hostages had been split up and were being held in two separate caves in the Koh-e-Laram forest, a joint British-US hostage rescue mission was planned. On 28 May 2012, the operation was carried out: two teams - one from the British Army 22nd Special Air Service Regiment ( SAS ) and one from U.S. Naval Special Warfare DEVGRU - were inserted by U.S. Army 160th SOAR "Nightstalker" Sikorsky MH-60M Blackhawk helicopters at an LZ 2 km from the target location, then the assault force advanced on foot through the forest and established a security cordon before assaulting into the caves simultaneous. The SEALs assaulted and cleared one cave killing seven gunmen but didn't find any hostages. The SAS team assault on the other cave killed a further four gunmen and rescued all four hostages, none of the hostages or operators were harmed.[26]

Rescue of Dr. Dilip Joseph, 8 December 2012

On 8 December 2012, DEVGRU rescued Dilip Joseph, an American doctor held captive by the Taliban in Eastern Afghanistan. Dr. Joseph, who was working for an aid organization, was kidnapped along with two Afghan colleagues at a road block by armed men and were moved to a compound in Laghma Province. The two Afghans were later released after negotiations. When intelligence indicated Dr. Joseph was in imminent danger a rescue operation was mounted. During the operation, seven of his Taliban captors were killed and two Taliban captured according to sources in the news and other articles. A DEVGRU member involved in the rescue, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Checque, was also killed. Checque was a highly decorated combat veteran awarded with the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Purple Heart as well as the Navy Cross posthumously awarded following the mission, among many others.[27] Senior Chief Naval Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers received the Medal of Honor on February 29, 2016, for his actions during the rescue.[28] Byers was the second SEAL through the door moving into position within the room where Joseph was being held and immediately engaged an enemy fighter, he then saw an unidentified individual moving across the floor in which he tackled them pinning him to the ground, once identified as another enemy fighter he was engaged by Byers. After hearing a response back from Dilip Joseph identifying his position Byers covered Joseph with his own body while also holding another armed enemy fighter close by to a wall by the throat until teammates could dispatch the enemy.

Operation Freedom's Sentinel

By the end of 2014, U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan-concluding Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan, the following year, US operations within Afghanistan continued under the codename: Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

Attempted rescue of American and Australian hostages in Afghanistan, August 2016

On August 7, 2016, an American and an Australian professor working at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, were kidnapped;[29] CNN reported that a few days later operators from SEAL Team Six attempted to rescue them. The operators parachuted (HALO jump) into Afghanistan, but failed to find them at the location they searched, however, the BBC reported that there were no US service personnel or civilians were harmed and a number of "hostile forces" were killed.[30] The US was never certain the professors were at the site, or if they were, when they had been moved. Some electronic media was recovered indicating the identities of those who were holding them.[31]

Operation Iraqi Freedom

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, at the start of the Iraq War, a squadron from DEVGRU operated as part of Task Force 20, their role was to conduct heliborne direct action raids - particularly against HVTs

On the evening of March 26, 2003, a DEVGRU assault element supported by B Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at a complex known as al Qadisiyah Research Centre - codenamed Objective Beaver - that intelligence indicated that chemical and biological weapons stocks may have been located along the shore of the al Qadisiyah reservoir among government and residential buildings, assaulted the complex (codenamed Objective Beaver). Whilst the first of four MH-60Ks inserted the Rangers into their blocking positions, it was engaged by small arms fire from a nearby building, an AH-6M spotted the muzzle flashes and fired a 2.75inch rocket into the location silencing the small arms fire, the second MH-60K was also struck by small arms fire but its door gunner suppressed it. USAF A-10A Thunderbolt II "Warthogs"engaged nearby electricity transformers successfully blacking out the area, but it resulted in a series of explosions and a resulting fire at the stations that dramatically lit the sky - pinpointing the orbiting helicopters from enemy gunmen. Small arms fire increased as the final two MH-60s inserted their blocking teams, the two pairs of AH-6M Little Birds and MH-60L Direct Action Penetrator Blackhawks, supporting the mission continued to suppress targets as the four MH-47E Chinooks carrying the DEVGRU main assault force inserted under heavy enemy small arms fire whilst DEVGRU sniper teams aboard a pair of MH-6M Little Birds engaged numerous gunmen and vehicles. The SEALs conducted a hasty SSE while the Ranger blocking positions received and returned fire, the AH-6Ms and the aerial snipers continued to engage enemy gunmen whilst the DAPs pushed further out to ensure no reinforcements approached - engaging and destroying numerous Fedayeen armed technicals. The SSE took longer than expected owing to the size and maze-like structure of the building, the mission completed after 45 minutes, later tests of the material recovered by DEVGRU showed no evidence of chemical or biological weapons at the Objective Beaver, one Nightstalker crew from an MH-47E and one Ranger was wounded.[32] On April 1, 2003, around 60 SEALs from DEVGRU successfully rescued PFC Jessica Lynch from a hospital in An'Nasiriyah.[33]

During the occupation, they were stationed at Al Asad Airbase as part of Task Force West/Blue. In 2005, DEVGRU along with Delta force and other regular Army and Marine forces took part in Operation Snake Eyes: an operation aimed at taking down local militant networks, especially against Al-Qaeda in Iraq, eliminating the groups from top to bottom, with particular focus on the "middle men". The operation took place all across Iraq, raids were synchronised with ground-holding regular Army and Marine forces;[34] when Delta Force took a number of casualties during that year, at least 3 DEVGRU Operators who were deployed to Afghanistan were seconded to Delta after they requested additional assaulters.[35]

During the Second Battle of Ramadi, DEVGRU operators from Task Force Blue and Delta Force operators from Task Force Green mounted take down operations against al-Qaeda targets based on high-level intelligence.[36]

In December 2006, DEVGRU operators were carrying out missions in Western Iraq: working along the border with Syria and in Ar'Ramadi, targeting high-level couriers that brought in foreign fighters and Iranian weapons and also assisting US Marines in clearing and securing series of houses near the Syrian border.[37]

Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa

As part of OEF-HOA, Naval Special Warfare Unit 10 are deployed to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, under the command of SOCCE-HOA (Special Opererations Command and Control Element-Horn of Africa) which commands all SOCOM units assigned to training or operational missions in the region. Special operations carried out in Somalia are conducted under the codename: Operation Octave Dune, as part of the overall effort in Somalia, which is known as Operation Octave Shield.[38] Before Djibouti became the epicentre for counter terrorism operations in Africa, unilateral operations were launched from temporary forward locations in friendly nations such as Kenya, or from US Navy Ships.[39]

Operation Celestial Balance is one example of such a mission: the target was the member of the east African al-Qaeda cell responsible for the 1998 United States embassy bombings and he was involved in bombing of a Kenyan hotel resort, he was the facilitator between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab. After collecting information on the target and his location, CIA and JSOC planners presented President Obama with 4 options: a Tomahawk cruise missile strike, an airstrike, an attack by Little Bird helicopters or an attempt to capture the target with an assault force of SEALs. Obama picked the airstrike option, however on the day of the operation a USMC Boeing AV-8B Harrier II+ approached its release point it reported a malfunction in its targeting system; so 8 helicopters (4 AH-6M Little Birds and 4 MH-60L Blackhawks) piloted by members of the 160th SOAR "Nightstalkers"carrying a team of SEAL Operators from DEVGRU. The AH-6s strafed the two-vehicle convoy, killing the target and 3 Al'Shabaab terrorists, the MH-60s dropped off the DEVGRU operators who cleared the vehicles and recovered the body.[40]

In preparation for the Bulo Marer hostage rescue attempt, a small team of Operators from Red Squadron DEVGRU, trained with operators from the DGSE Action Division who carried out the rescue attempt.[41]

Maersk Alabama hijacking and rescue, 12 April 2009

MV Maersk Alabama, a 508 foot long cargo ship carrying 17,000 tons of humanitarian aid supplies, was seized by pirates 240 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, in waters notorious for piracy. After a confrontation with the crew, four of the hijackers fled in the ship's lifeboat, taking Captain Richard Phillips with them as hostage and resulting in a stand-off with a group US Navy warships including, USS Bainbridge DDG-96, USS Halyburton FFG-40, and USS Boxer LHD-4. DEVGRU operators flew non-stop from Virginia to the Horn of Africa, then parachuted into the water, before finally arriving aboard the Bainbridge. Three of the operators, one for each pirate, took up sniper positions on the fantail of the ship, with presidential authorization to use lethal force, if it was required. The leader of the pirate group was lured onto the USS Braindridge under the assumption that his group's leaders were aboard the ship and negotiations were going to be held. However, shortly after boarding the ship, SEALs and Navy personnel disarmed the assailant. He would later stand trial in the U.S. for piracy. At one point, following a struggle between the pirates and Capt. Phillips where shots were fired, the SEALs felt the hostage's life was in imminent danger. When the first opportunity appeared and the heads of all three captors were visible at the same time, all three snipers fired simultaneously, killing all three pirates at once with head-shots. Phillips was then successfully rescued, bringing the stand-off to an end.[42]

Operation Octave Fusion

In a mission codenamed Octave Fusion, on 24 January 2012, operators from DEVGRU Red squadron,[43] successfully rescued American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, who had been detained by Somali bandits in north-central Somalia. The pair had been abducted around the area of Galkayo three months earlier while working as aid workers helping to remove land mines. Officials stated plans for a rescue operation had been under development for weeks, but acted after discovering that Buchanan's health was deteriorating due to an undisclosed illness.[44] DEVGRU was prepared to capture the hostage takers but this proved unfeasible and nine "heavily armed" kidnappers were killed.[45] The SEALs were parachuted in at night before advancing two miles to the enemy compound on foot. After securing the safety of Buchanan and Thisted, the team, who suffered no injuries, were extracted by helicopter.[46]

Operation against Al-Shabaab in Barawa, 5 October 2013

On October 5, 2013, United States Navy DEVGRU launched a raid against a beachside house primarily to capture a key member of Al-Shabaab, called Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, known as "Ikrima", and to gain intelligence. The SEALs approached the beach from several small boats. 20 SEALs then moved inland, roughly 200 metres towards a two-story building which was confirmed the location of the Al Shabaab commander. The SEALs split into two teams, six SEALs then entered the house while the rest stayed outside to provide a security perimeter. During this time, an Al Shabaab fighter walked out for a cigarette and spotted them and a firefight broke out. SEALs inside the house killed one fighter but chose to withdraw without capturing Ikrima due to an increased number of women and children in the immediate area.[47]

War in North-West Pakistan

In late 2005, an operation was planned for infiltrating into Pakistan after CIA intelligence was received that indicated al-Zawahiri was attending a meeting in a compound close to the border. They were to parachute in from MC-130H Combat Talon IIs and steer across the Pakistani border from Afghanistan, capture or kill the targets and be extracted by U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command 20th Special Operations Squadron "Green Hornets" Sikorsky MH-53M Pave Low IV Helicopters. However, as the MC-130s were airborne the mission was aborted; in 2006, a CIA MQ-1B Predator UAV strike in the same area nearly killed Zawahiri.[16]

In March 2006, DEVGRU and the US Army Rangers crossed into Pakistani territory in their hunt for al-Qaeda leaders, allegedly under the codename: Operation Vigilant Harvest. Their target was an al-Qaeda training camp in North Waziristan, they were flown in by the 160th SOAR "Nightstalkers", the operation has been falsely credited to the Pakistani Special Service Group. The SEALs and the Rangers killed as many as 30 terrorists, including the Chechen camp commandant Imam Asad.[48]

In 2008, DEVGRU carried out the Angur Ada raid, targeting unspecified al-Qaeda leadership targets, a number of terrorists were killed but no high-value targets were killed.[49]

Death of Osama bin Laden

Diagram of Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He was killed there on 2 May 2011.

On 1–2 May 2011 DEVGRU's Red Squadron undertook the covert operation codenamed Operation Neptune Spear,[50] under the CIA's authority, and killed Osama bin Laden,[51] leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, at his compound 34°10′9.51″N 73°14′32.78″E / 34.1693083°N 73.2424389°E / 34.1693083; 73.2424389 in the city of Abbottabad, 113 kilometres (70 mi) from Islamabad, the Federal capital of Pakistan.[52][53][54] The attack itself lasted 38 minutes. Bin Laden's adult son, a woman, and two couriers were also killed.[55] There were no casualties to the team. They had practiced the mission "on both American coasts" and in a segregated section of Camp Alpha at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan in early April 2011, using a 1 acre (0.40 ha) replica of bin Laden's compound.[56][57][58] Modified MH-60 helicopters from the U.S. Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Airborne "Nightstalkers"carried DEVGRU "Red Squadron" operators and paramilitary operatives from the CIA's Special Activities Division. Other personnel supported with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers from Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan.[59]

Because of its covert nature, the raid was a CIA operation with DEVGRU being transferred under CIA authority for its duration.[60][61] A 1 May memo from CIA Director Leon Panetta thanked the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, whose mapping and pattern-recognition software was likely used to determine that there was "high probability" that Bin Laden lived in the compound. Members of these agencies were paired with JSOC units in forward-deployed fusion cells to "exploit and analyze" battlefield data instantly using biometrics, facial recognition systems, voice print databases, and predictive models of insurgent behavior based on surveillance and computer-based pattern analysis.[62] The operation was a result of years of intelligence work that included the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM),[63] the tracking of the courier to the Abbottabad compound by CIA paramilitary operatives, and the establishing of a CIA safe house that provided critical ground intelligence.[64][65][65] On the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden the Combatting Terrorism Center released documents seized from Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad home.[66] The Associated Press reported that the troops had been trained to search for documents, computer files and "pocket litter" "that might produce leads to other terrorists".

In popular culture, several books have tried to capture the events of the mission. The first of which was the 2011 graphic novel published by IDW Publishing, Code Word: Geronimo, written by retired Marine Corps Captain Dale Dye and Julia Dye, and illustrated by former U.S. Army combat medic Gerry Kissell. Later, the controversial book Seal Target Geronimo, by Chuck Pfarrer, a former Navy SEAL, that disputed the accounts by the DoD of how the events occurred the night of the raid on the compound. Finally, in 2012, the book No Easy Day was released. The book was written by a DEVGRU Red Squadron operator writing under the pseudonym "Mark Owen", who was part of Operation Neptune Spear and claimed to be one of the two operators who engaged Bin Laden. Then, in 2012, a film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal was released called Zero Dark Thirty. The film portrayed the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the raid performed by DEVGRU. Another film, Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, depicting the events of Operation Neptune Spear, was also released in 2012. The events in the film have neither been "confirmed nor denied" by White House officials..

For the operation, President Barack Obama awarded the unit the Presidential Unit Citation.[67]

Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen

Hostage Rescue operation, Hajr al-Sayar district - Yemen, 26 November 2014

A U.S. official confirmed that about two dozen U.S. special operations forces and a team of Yemeni counterterrorism troops conducted a raid near the border with Saudi Arabia that rescued six Yemenis, a Saudi and an Ethiopian. Eight militants were killed during the operation.[68]

Yakla raid, 29 January 2017

U.S. Marine MV-22 Ospreys on the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island, December 21, 2016.

On January 29, 2017, the New York Times reported that SEALs from SEAL Team Six carried out the surprise dawn attack on a AQAP headquarters in Bayda Province that a senior American official said counterterrorism officials had deemed valuable enough to warrant a ground operation rather than an airstrike. However, based on eyewitness statements the element of surprise was (partially) lost after residents of the targeted location heard the sound of unmanned aerial vehicles several hours before US ground forces arrived (but allegedly did not expect a ground raid).[69] The US military stated the raid led to “the capture of information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots." Reuters reported that the raid began with a drone attack on the home of Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, followed by the arrival of paratroopers.[70] According to this account, corroborated among residents, a Yemeni security official, and a local official, "helicopters bombed the [al Qaeda] gunmen and a number of homes and led to a large number of casualties."[70] A senior American official said a USMC MV-22B Osprey that was sent from USS Makin Island (LHD-8)[71] to evacuate the wounded troops in the raid crash-landed nearby, leaving two more service members injured. American forces intentionally destroyed the aircraft with further airstrikes.[72][73]

The raid killed three prominent members of Al Qaeda: Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, Sultan al-Dhahab and Seif al-Nims[72][74] The US military estimated that 14 Qaeda fighters were killed in the raid, that women were among the Qaeda fighters killed and injured, and that "the SEALs saw the women running to fighting positions as the team approached."[75] According to medical reports, eight women and seven children, aged 3 to 13, were killed in the raid.[76] U.S. citizen Nawar al-Awlaki, the eight-year-old daughter of Al Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a 2011 drone strike, was among those killed.[77] The US military initially denied there were any civilian casualties, but later declared it was investigating if they occurred.[72] One SEAL was killed (Chief Petty Officer William "Ryan" Owens) and three others were injured.[78][69]

Al Hathla raid, 23 May 2017

The New York Times reported that on 23 May 2017, Members of SEAL Team 6 carried out a raid on an AQAP-linked compound in Ma'rib Governorate. Colonel John Thomas, a CENTCOM spokesman, said that the raid was "intended to seize potentially important information from the compound - typically electronic devices such as computers, hard drives and cellphones - and was not an attempt to kill or capture a particular individual." The raid resulted in the killing of 7 AQAP militants by what a CENTCOM statement said was "through a combination of small-arms fire and precision airstrikes.”[79]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Michael (2007). Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team. New York, New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-36272-2.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Chalker, Dennis; Dockery, Kevin (2002). One Perfect Op: Navy Seal Special Warfare Teams. New York: Avon Books. ISBN 0-380-80920-6.
  3. 1 2 Pfarrer, Chuck. Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy Seal. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-89141-863-6.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Couch, Dick (October 2001). The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228. Crown. ISBN 0-609-60710-3.
  5. ↑ Bowden, Mark (2001). Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. Signet. ISBN 0-451-20393-3.
  6. ↑ "SOF Transformer", Special Operations Technology, 2 (4), 13 July 2004, archived from the original ( – Scholar search) on September 29, 2007
  7. ↑ "Valor Awards for Eric Thor Olson". Military Times. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  8. ↑ Smith, Michael (2008). Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team. Macmillan. pp. 201–202. ISBN 978-0-312-37826-4.
  9. ↑ Shanker, Thom; Risen, James (12 August 2002). "Rumsfeld weighs new covert acts by military units". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  10. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1472807908, p.29-31,p.231
  11. 1 2 Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1472807908, p.54
  12. ↑ MacPherson, Malcolm (2006). Roberts Ridge: A Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan. Random House. ISBN 978-0-553-58680-0.
  13. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 1472807901 ISBN 978-1472807908, p.67-69
  14. ↑ "DAY OF AFGHAN VIOLENCE". PBS. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  15. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1472807908, p.231-232
  16. 1 2 3 Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1472807908, p.236
  17. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1472807908, p.232-233, p.236-237
  18. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1472807908, p.277
  19. ↑ "Six little-known stories about secretive Joint Special Operations Command, as told in a new book". the Washington post. 1 September 2015.
  20. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1-4728-0790-8,p.263-265
  21. ↑ SEAL Team 6 members among 38 killed in Afghanistan. Los Angeles Times 6 August 2011.
  22. ↑ Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Reportedly Kills Members of SEAL Team 6. Fox News, 6 August 2011.
  23. ↑ NATO Crash: Communities Mourn Loss of Troops Killed in Afghanistan. ABC News, 6 August 2011.
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  25. ↑ "NSW source: Crash 'worst day in our history'". Military Times. 6 August 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  26. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1472807908,p.265-266
  27. ↑ Qadir Sediqi,"U.S. Navy SEAL killed in operation to rescue American doctor in Afghanistan" CNN 10 December 2012
  28. ↑ Navy SEAL receives Medal of Honor Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  29. ↑ "US and Australian professors kidnapped in Afghanistan". bbc. 8 August 2016.
  30. ↑ "US hostage rescue bid in Afghanistan fails". BBC. 8 September 2016.
  31. ↑ "Failed hostage rescue attempt in Afghanistan". CNN. 9 September 2016.
  32. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1-4728-0790-8, p.133-134
  33. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1-4728-0790-8,p.131-132
  34. ↑ Urban, Mark, Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq , St. Martin's Griffin, 2012 ISBN 978-1250006967, p.71,p.80-81
  35. ↑ Owen, Mark No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy Seal: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, DUTTON Books, 2012 ISBN 978-0525953722, p.46
  36. ↑ Urban, Mark, Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq , St. Martin's Griffin , 2012 ISBN 1250006961 ISBN 978-1250006967,p.180
  37. ↑ Owen, Mark No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy Seal: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, DUTTON Books, 2012 ISBN 978-0525953722, p.67-68
  38. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1-4728-0790-8,p.200-201
  39. ↑ Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1-4728-0790-8,p.282
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  44. ↑ "U.S. forces rescue kidnapped aid workers Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted in Somalia" The Washington Post Retrieved 25 January 2012
  45. ↑ Abdi Sheikh, "U.S. commandos free two hostages in daring Somalia raid" Reuters 25 January 2012
  46. ↑ Greg Jaffe, "SEAL Team Six parachuted into Somalia on raid" The Washington Post 25 January 2012
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  61. ↑
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  65. 1 2 Greenberg, Joel (11 September 2001). "CIA spied on bin Laden from safe house". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  66. ↑ "Bin Laden troubled by crumbling Muslim trust: Al-Qaeda leader's final letters from Pakistan compound are released by U.S." CBC News. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012. "The end of the raid in Abbottabad was the beginning of a massive analytical effort," it said.
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  69. 1 2 Bulos, Nabih; Hennigan, W. J. "What happened the night a U.S. commando was killed in combat, the first such death of Trump's presidency". Los Angeles Times.
  70. 1 2 Ghobari, Mohammed; Stewart, Phil (2017-01-29). "Commando dies in U.S. raid in Yemen, first military op OK'd by Trump". Reuters. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  71. ↑ "1 Navy SEAL Killed, 3 Injured In Raid Against AQAP In Yemen". January 30, 2017.
  72. 1 2 3 "U.S. Commando Killed in Yemen in Trump's First Counterterror Operation". New York Times. 29 January 2017.
  73. ↑ "More Details on US Special Forces' Raid on Yemeni Province of Bayda". January 31, 2017.
  74. ↑ "US military raid in Yemen kills civilians and al Qaeda militants - Middle East - DW.COM - 29.01.2017". Deutsche Welle.
  75. ↑ Sisk, Richard. "Navy SEAL Team 6 Members Fought Female Fighters in Yemen Raid".
  76. ↑ "US raid in Yemen kills American 8-year-old daughter of al-Awlaki - Al Arabiya English". Al Arabiya English. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
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  78. ↑ Meek, James Gordon; Martinez, Luis; Fishel, Justin (February 13, 2017). "US Service Member Killed in SEAL Raid on al-Qaeda in Yemen". ABC News.
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