At the entrance of the Museum of Navy Seal by Fort Pierce, Florida, the statue of a naked torso man supervises the entrance and reminds anyone who passes, the courage, audacity and sacrifice of one of the most feared special forces in the world. The statue is known by the name “Naked warrior“, The Naked warriorand depicts the first members of the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), the men who inspired, together with the Naval Combat Demolition Unit (Ncdu), the elite body of the Navy Seal.
These highly trained swimmers and demolitions were known throughout the United States Navy for the peculiarity of going to battle with limited and unthinkable equipment for anyone else. Out of the shorts of shorts kaki And of the shoes in which they constituted their “uniform”, a pair of fins, a sub -mask and a blackboard with a pencil on which to write down the information they gathered, were all they needed, in addition to the enviable courage and a physical preparation. Their only weapon, initially, was a fixed blade knife K-bar. Symbol still “alive” of the commando and the combat swimmers of the Navy who laid the foundations for the creation of the Navy Seal.
The “naked warriors” of the US NAVY
During their first missions, the “combat swimmers” of the Navy also wore olive green uniforms, boots and helmets to carry out an important and dangerous mission: carry out reconnaissance e clear the coastal defenses which were punctually placed on the enemy beaches to open the road in the most important amphibious operations of the conflict.
However, during the preparatory mission to the invasion of the Kwajalein Atoll controlled by the Japanese, the swimming team that had the task of conducting a reconnaissance to evaluate the conditions of the beach in view of the assault, they were unable to “get close enough to the shore“Due to the coral reef, and for this they decided to”undress up to the underwear“To swim more easily above the barrier and to complete the mission without being seen.
They were the first “naked warriors”, and the effectiveness of the action inspired the commanders of the Navy to support this specialty, adding only the mute to the initial equipment, in the event of less generous atmospheric conditions than those that were recorded on the Pacific front, and providing them with a “demolition backpack”To eliminate the obstacles that would prevent the landing of the First waves of infantry.
The first to sacrifice themselves into D-Day
In the D-Day of the landing in Normandy It was those same swimmers of the nascent “special unit”, the divers of the Underwater Demolition Teams the first to land on the beaches with the code names of Utah And Omahaswimming in the agitated waters of the sleeve that separated the force of invasion allied by France occupied by the Germans, well entrenched behind the defensive line of the Atlantic Vallo which had dispelled the beaches and low water subject to the tide, of dangerous obstacles, mines and traps. Together with them, they were the English frog men of the similar groups, called Landing Craft Obstacle Clearance Unitsor Lock-Yew.
Once the obstacles identified under the surface of the sea has been eliminated, the task passed into the hands of the Naval Combat Demolition Unit, small teams of 6 operators that on board pneumatic boats with an outboard engine produced by Goodyear Tire Company, called Landing Craft Rubberwho launched to the beaches with the first waves of infantry to open gates to the tanks and units that should have conquered the precious bridge head. Among the Friesia horses and the so -called Rommel asparagusthe demolition specialists, this time with a seal similar to that of all the other soldiers, sought the designated points to undermine the obstacles on the wet and open the gates. Coming falcidiate by machine guns and mortars. The mortality rate between the divers and the small teams of spoilers was very high: over 50% lost their lives of the very first hours of the Overlord operation. The “safe streets” for subsequent waves were freed and reported thanks to that great sacrifice.
In total, only nine of the units of divers and spoilers survived the landings. By opening six complete gates of fifteen meters through the obstacles and three partial gates in the first thirty minutes of the landing.
Navy Seal, the heirs of the divers of the Navy
The Navy Seal Teams were created in 1962 at the behest of the President John F. Kennedyveteran of the Second World War I understood “The enormous value of small units in great battles“. The acronym Seal wanted to indicate that the elite units of this new formations could have operated in”Sea, Air, and Land“, That is, at sea, air and land. The old domains of the conventional and asymmetrical war.
This new special unit was assigned to United States Navy who wanted “assault troops capable of hitting underwater, beaches or air” Korea war And in the “secret war” that would lead to the bag in Vietnam.
The small independent teams of the Seal, made up of men highly trained by the “method” of the flagship Draper Kauffmanthe Underwater Demolition Teams, the spoilers of the Naval Combat Demolition Unit, members of the members of the Scouts and Raidersand staff of the naval component of theOffice of Strategic Servicesthe US secret service that operated in the period of the Second World War with the task of planning and coordinating illegal infiltration missions of agents in enemy territorynaval sabotage operations, and development of special equipment for sea operations.
They would have dealt with the most dangerous and delicate missions. From the furtive reconnaissance in hostile territories, to blowing bridges or strategic structures in the air, interrupt the communication lines, train fighters of the resistance and assassinate foreign objectives in the heart of the enemy territory.
As in the case of Team 6 of Osama Bin Laden’s beheading in Pakistan. Thus, the heirs of the naked warriorsthey would have carried out the tradition of the courage and extraordinary skills of the Marina combat swimmers who inspired the modern Navy Seal.