Operation Bainbridge

Operation Bainbridge was conducted to rescue Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama.. He was taken hostage in a life boat on April 8, 2009. 

4 Somali pirates came up next to the ship and boarded it with a ladder. The crew took refuge in a secure room. The chief engineer was stranded outside of the secure room, and with knife in hand, tackled one of the pirates as he came around a corner in the darkened engine room. He brought him into a headlock and took him to the secure room. Richard Phillips, the captain, was also stranded outside of the secure room. The pirates took him hostage. The crew planned to exchange the captured pirate for Phillips. However, it went awry, and the pirates escaped in a lifeboat with the captain. 

The US Navy responded immediately. Two guided missile frigates, along with two SH-60 helicopters and an Eagle Eye drone. The lifeboat ran out of fuel and was towed by a US Navy frigate. 

On April 12, 2009, Navy SEAL snipers killed the pirates with simultaneous headshots. A boarding team rescue Phillips from the boat 

Operation Neptune Spear

Operation Neptune Spear is one of the best known and most highly classified missions that the SEAL teams have ever executed. It was the mission that supposedly killed Osama Bin Laden.

The mission started with about two dozen SEALs being flown by helicopter from Jalalabad airbase in Afghanistan, across the border, and Being dropped off next to Bin Laden's compound in Abottabad, Pakistan.
One of the Helicopters crashed, leaving no SEALs harmed, and was purposely destroyed.

The SEALs were armed with H&K416 suppressed assault rifles, H&K MP7A1 submachineguns, also suppressed, and SIG Mk25 pistols.

The raid lasted about 40 minutes, in which a firefight occurred, the SEALs quickly overcoming opposition, with Bin Laden being shot by the point man on the third floor of the compound.


Bin Laden's compound.