What’s the difference between Marines and Navy?
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Marines are meant to be on ships and then leave the ships to invade somewhere by fighting on land. Think like the Pacific Island invasions in WWII.
Navy control the ships and fight on water like aircraft carriers, and submarines.
There is an overlap, at least in the US, because historically Marines would deploy from Naval vessels.
The Navy is bigger and operates across many more types of missions than the Marines. The Marines are much smaller and are designed to deploy fast and attack hard against ground targets in ground combat.
Things the Navy does:
– Operate war ships (Cruisers, Aircraft Carriers, attack submarines, submarines that carry nuclear ballistic missiles).
– Transport land attack forces (Marines) and their equipment for deployment to other countries.
– Operate logistics ships (such as oilers that carry fuel or supply ships that carry ammunition and food) to support longer deployments of Navy ships and Marine units.
– There’s a whole range of intelligence support activities the Navy does. While the Marines do have intelligence roles, they tend to be much more limited and focused on supporting Marine missions specifically, as opposed to Naval intelligence which covers a wider range of areas.
– Train and deploy medical staff who can treat people on shore in the US or at bases overseas, on ships. Some are attached to Marine Corps units and serve as the field medics for Marines. The Marine Corps do not have their own medical personnel, unlike the Army, Navy or Air Force. The Navy also operates a couple of hospital ships that can be used to support the rest of the military or which can be deployed on humanitarian missions to do things like physical examinations and treatments and dental cleanings at countries that don’t have easy access to such care.
– Special Warfare operations (SEALs and other units).
– Operate a massive fleet of fighter, early warning and multi-role aircraft, search and rescue helicopters, attack helicopters, etc.
– Operate Construction Battalions (CBs or “Seabees”) who specialize in civil engineering, helping build operating bases on land, helping with reconstruction efforts, etc.
The Marines tend to focus on combat, so a lot of their forces cover infantry, artillery, tanks (though last I read they are trying to get away from tanks). They do have some aviation units, mostly helicopters for attack and transportation and *some* planes. And they have special warfare units, too.
The Marines are a part of the Department of the Navy, but they function as their own independent branch for purposes of recruiting and training.
Oh and like all branches there are big cultural differences between them. Jobs in the Navy tend to be more technical and a person in the Navy is expected to be more of a technically proficient individual in their chosen career field, whereas in the Marines the expectation is that you’re a Marine first and your main job second – it is more generalized.
Historically the Navy basically needed its own “Army” in a direct assault role to do boarding parties and shore landings. Marine Corps answers to the Department of the Navy at some point up the chain of command. The Marines didn’t quite stick to its initial role (more or less infantry), but that’s how it got started. The majority of the Navy sticks to shipboard operations with only a few exceptions.
Marines are the men’s department of the navy. The navy gives us rides to and from battles but marines are the ones fighting them.
The Navy drives the ship, shoots people from the ship & stays on the ship. The Marines ride the ship and get off the ship to shoot people up close & eat crayons.
One rides the other… Wait that didn’t come out right. I mean one uses the other’s equipment until they are ready to shoot their guns… Wait no, that didn’t come out right either. Umm… Well I guess it’s not wrong either so I’ll leave it there for now. Help?
My father, who served in the British Merchant Marine AND the US Navy explained that the Marines were “Navy Bellhops.”
In short, the Marines were conceived as America’s “expeditionary force” that specializes in amphibious warfare (sea -> land -> back again) and global reach
The Navy has been around for a very long time and mainly focuses on Naval warfare, but they do have some overlap and dabble in amphibious warfare. But they are classically what you think of as sailors just in a much more modern military context.
Marines are supposed to project American power globally by maintaining the ability to “defend our interests” anywhere with quick response time. That’s pretty much what an Expeditionary force does, they arrive anywhere prepared in theory.
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Navy is sailors.
Marines is foot soldiers. Like the army. Except they start the battle on boats, those boats get them to the beach, and the storm the beach. On foot. With rifles and grenades and whatnot.
The fact that they launch from boats makes them a bit special, so they’re separate from the regular army in some armies. The USA army for example. But the core competence of a Marine soldier is way closer to that of an Army soldier than a Navy sailor.
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