What’s the difference between Marines and Navy?
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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.
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