The Navy SEAL Teams were founded at the direction of President John F. Kennedy in 1962, with the main objective of establishing a unit within the US Navy that could conduct guerrilla warfare in maritime and riverine environments.

Long before the first SEAL Teams were established in the 1960s, the SEAL community had a rich history reaching back to the OSS swimmers of World War II, and the UDTs (Under Water Demolition Teams) that supported SOG (Special Operations Group) with their amphibious landing at Inchon Korea in the 1950s.

After 1962, SEAL Teams One and Two did their part to establish a strong foundation of accomplishment in the riverine environments of Vietnam. In 1989, the US invaded Panama and SEAL Team Two’s combat swimmers set charges that left Noriega’s boat at the bottom of the canal. And the SEAL Teams of the 90s regularly conducted non-compliant ship takedowns to enforce UN sanctions against Iraq’s former leader, Saddam Hussein.

Now, in 2014, the community is faced with the harsh truth that today’s modern SEAL Teams (excluding the SDV community), after over a decade of war in the desert, are losing their edge in the maritime environment.