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 – 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 was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

larger U.S. Navy warships had a detachment of

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

. 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 and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

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 "Gi ...

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-purpose forces within the United States Department of the Navy that perform offensive amphibious or expeditionary warfare and defensive maritime employment. The Flee ...

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 ( tl, Labanan sa Bataan; January 7 – April 9, 1942) was fought by the United States and the Philippine Commonwealth against Japan during World War II. The battle represented the most intense phase of the Japanese inva ...

in early 1942. With no hope of relief, sailors from the

Subic Bay Naval Station Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the Spanish Navy and subsequently the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. The base was 262 square miles, about the size of Singapore. Th ...

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 and endured the

Bataan Death March The Bataan Death March (Filipino: ''Martsa ng Kamatayan sa Bataan''; Spanish: ''Marcha de la muerte de Bataán'' ; Kapampangan: ''Martsa ning Kematayan quing Bataan''; Japanese: バターン死の行進, Hepburn: ''Batān Shi no Kōshin'') wa ...

. 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 Beachmaster Unit Two (BMU-2) is a United States Navy amphibious beach party unit based at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Little Creek, Virginia. Since 1949, BMU-2 has been involved in major amphibious exercises and operations in Lebanon, Cub ...

. 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 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, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

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