This is an incomplete list of operations conducted by the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
Invasion of Grenada
On 14 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.
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.
The invasion plan involved mixing conventional and special forces in a coordinated, surprise coup de main assault. SEAL Team Six was assigned three pre-invasion missions: two clandestine political missions relating to regime change on the island, and reconnaissance from the sea of the new airfield under construction on the island's southwest coast. There was almost no intelligence for these operations.
On 23 October, SEAL Team Six's Assault Group Three began the airport reconnaissance with a static line parachute drop, along with two combat-raiding small craft, well beyond detection by the Grenadian military. A rain squall accompanied by high winds broke out just before the SEALs conducted the water-drop rendezvous with the . One of two C-130 cargo planes transporting the SEALs to their drop point veered off course. Four SEALs drowned upon landing in the dark 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 surviving SEAL jumpers were taken aboard the Navy frigate where they were joined by other waiting SEALs and an Air Force combat control team. After an unsuccessful search for the missing men, this 20-man group attempted to complete their delayed mission. Their open boats swamped while evading a suspected patrol boat, causing the mission to be aborted. A second attempt was made the next night, but it was also unsuccessful. In the end, the airport reconnaissance was successfully performed three hours before H-Hour on D-Day by an Air Force AC-130.
The two SEAL Team Six regime-change missions both involved Governor General Sir Paul Scoon, the Anglophile, Grenadian-born, appointed head-of-state. The principal mission was to fly to the governor general's mansion in the capital city, secure him, his wife and his staff and then move them all out of the combat area. The second, simultaneous regime-change mission was to capture and secure Grenada's long-distance radio transmitter station, located seven miles north of the capital city. The station was to be held until Scoon could broadcast a message to his county and the Caribbean, declaring that the intervention was both legal and desired. In the event, that D-Day message was delayed by events for three days.
The two SEAL regime-change missions were coordinated with a third, a prison assault assigned to Delta Force and Army Rangers. A mixed-service force of commandos departed behind schedule from Barbados in 9 Army transport helicopters at 0500 on D-Day, 25 October. By the time the UH-60 Black Hawks arrived over Grenadian soil, U.S. Marines had already landed on the east coast of the island and overt combat was underway. Marines waved as the late-arriving Black Hawks passed overhead.
Governor-General's mansion
Two Black Hawks carried two SEAL platoons to the two-story, Georgian-style building overlooking Grenada's capital city where Scoon lived and worked. Twenty-two SEALs fast-roped to the ground while under heavy enemy fire. The opposing fire damaged one of the helicopters and seriously wounded an Army flight commander. The stricken Black Hawk flew out to Navy ships offshore, also carrying away the SEAL's commanding officer and their portable satellite radio. Meanwhile, the assault team approached from the back of the mansion. The SEALs found Scoon and 10 other civilians hiding in the basement. The SEALs then continued to clear the rest of the house and began to set up a defensive perimeter to ensure security. Soon the mansion started to take fire from enemy soldiers armed with AK-47s and RPGs. As the incoming fire started to increase, Scoon and his party were moved to a safer location in the house. After the incoming fire had decreased, three men wearing Cuban-made 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 trio and killed them almost instantly. The SEALs suspected the men were Cubans, but the post-invasion evidence strongly indicates they were Grenadians.
Soon afterward, two BTR-60s 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. The vehicles were chased off by two protective AC-130s. The only communications the team had been through limited-range MX-360 radios. The team used these hand-held radios to communicate with a SEAL command post on the island to call in airstrikes. 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, which was able to get an AC-130H Spectre gunship to hold station over the SEALs' position to provide air support.
When morning came, Marines from Company G of Battalion Landing Team 2/8 arrived to relieve the SEALs. The Governor General and his wife were evacuated to the , the invasion force flagship, by Marine helicopter.
Radio station
While Scoon was being secured, 12 other operators from SEAL Team Six, under the command of Lt. Donald "Kim" Erskine, flew on to the radio station in a lone Black Hawk helicopter. The helicopter took small-arms fire on the insertion. Once the team landed, 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. 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 truck with armed Grenadian soldiers arrived at the station. The SEALs ordered the soldiers to drop the weapons. After a brief tense standoff, the soldiers opened fire, but they were quickly neutralized. All the soldiers were killed or wounded by the SEALs.
The SEALs continued trying to make radio contact. Then a BTR-60 and three trucks, carrying a dozen soldiers each, were spotted coming towards the station. 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. The team realized that their only option was to change their original plan of holding the radio station, and instead disable the radio transmitter, then extract towards the water. They followed a pre-planned escape route out behind the station and across a broad meadow that led to a path that cut between cliffs and a beach. 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, they 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. Once the Grenadians had given up the search, they swam out to sea. They were in the water for nearly six hours until a rescue plane spotted them and vectored the , a destroyer, to pick them up. The officer in charge, 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 7 October 1985, the 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 the 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 8 October, 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 9 October, SEAL Team SIX assault members embarked on board the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), which steamed for Port Said. On 10 October, 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 airbase in Sicily. After the 737 touched down, two United States Air Force C-141 Starlifter cargo planes landed with SEAL Team SIX, who quickly surrounded the airplane but were then surrounded by Italian Carabinieri. The plane had come 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