After World War II, the Soviet Union was a whole new kind of threat to the United States. The Red Army of the USSR was securing its victories and advancing Marxism-Leninism, which was a clear rejection of American values. This new threat affected the U.S. Navy and its leaders in a big way.
The United States Navy sent ships to protect the country and other countries from this threat. Enlisted men trained to protect our shores from attack worked on these ships. The sailors on the aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy fought against the Russians and the Chinese Communists, and many sailors died.
The Navy also had to get rid of enemy naval forces in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. It also convinced Saddam that the coalition was coming to help, and it got the powerful VII Corps ready for a surprise attack on the enemy's desert flank. In the end, this attack was successful.
At the start of the Cold War, the Navy started to compete for resources with the Air Force and other Allied navies. Armed operations in the Pacific, Eastern Europe, and the Far East would force the Soviet Union to fight on two fronts instead of just one. Hornfischer says that plans to combine the armed services, make one unified air force, and end combined arms operations were a threat to the Navy's very existence.
During the 1980s, the U.S. Navy had to deal with a number of problems in the Middle East, such as the rise of the anti-American government. Iran had surface-to-surface missiles, fast attack vessels, and mines ready for the war with Iraq, which had been going on for seven years. They tried to stop Iraq from getting money from oil by attacking oil tankers in Kuwait, which helped the Iraqi government.
In the 1950s, the US Navy had two big carriers: the Des Moines and the Worcester. Both of these carriers were on standby, but neither one was big enough to fly jets. The USS New Jersey also took part in coastal bombing operations in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the USS New Jersey was in service. Even though the aircraft carriers in the Navy didn't have jets, they could still protect a carrier.
During the Vietnam War, the US Navy started to use carrier strikes as a good way to fight. In particular, attacks with two planes on aircraft carriers helped make carrier attacks more effective and reduce losses. The Navy also sent two A-6 Intruder attack planes, flown by Lieutenant Commander Charles B. Hunter and Lieutenant Lyle F. Bull, to a ferry dock near Hanoi. Anti-aircraft guns used by the Communists were aimed at the lead plane. At one point, the Communists shot down three of the planes.
Because of this, the U.S. Navy had the upper hand in the Vietnam War. It sent its special operations forces to North Korean islands and to thousands of other islands around the world. On February 16, the U.S. Navy attacked the targets of the port of Wonsan to block it off. It also dropped bombs on Pyongyang with planes from the cruiser Valley Forge and the guided-missile frigate Triumph.
A year later, the Navy's aerial reconnaissance units joined the U.S. Air Force in looking into Cuba. From Key West, they sent six planes to fly over Cuba. The planes were advanced F8U-1P Crusaders that flew at 350 knots. The mission of Major Rudolph Anderson, an Air Force pilot, was the same. Ecker's plane, on the other hand, was not shot at.