US Navy

The US Navy is the naval warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces, established 27 October 1775 and today the world's largest fleet by displacement tonnage, with approximately 340,000 active personnel and 11 carrier strike groups. Its Middle East headquarters is US Fifth Fleet in Manama, Bahrain, operating under US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The Navy's most intense recent combat was the 2026 Iran conflict. It enforced a maritime interdiction operation in the Gulf and Indian Ocean, seizing tankers carrying Iranian oil and maintaining carrier strike group presence. It scored the first torpedo kill of an enemy warship since the Second World War when a US submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena south of Sri Lanka. CENTCOM ceased all blockade enforcement on 18 June 2026 after 66 days, with the Islamabad Memorandum providing the political off-ramp. Mine clearance in the Strait of Hormuz, conducted by USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. and USS Michael Murphy supported by underwater drones, is projected to take 40-50 days minimum for partial clearance.

Beyond the Gulf, the Navy is investing heavily in autonomous maritime systems. At BALTOPS 2026 in the Baltic (June 2026), Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Group 1 operated the Iver3 AUV for seabed-surveillance sorties near Liepaja, mapping cable corridors and flagging anomalies along the seabed where Baltic infrastructure sabotage had become a pattern. Under AUKUS Pillar II, the Navy is expanding trilateral autonomous maritime trials with Australia and the UK, pursuing a cohesive uncrewed fleet through the Maritime Big Play programme targeting anti-submarine warfare, maritime strike, and seabed warfare. Domestically, the Navy committed alongside the Army to $675.93 million for JLWS high-energy laser systems to counter drone swarms, one of the largest directed-energy procurement decisions in US history.