Fleets, Marines, Air Forces and Space: How Services Took to Sea, Sky and Orbit

The oldest service here, formally established in 1546 under Henry VIII. Its defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in 1805 made it the dominant naval power, and it later fought at Jutland in 1916 and in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Raised as the Continental Marines on 10 November 1775 as infantry able to fight at sea and ashore. It made its first amphibious assault at Nassau in March 1776 and later won its defining role in the island-by-island campaigns of the Pacific in the Second World War.

Began as the Continental Navy in 1775 and was reconstituted under the Constitution in 1794. Carrier battles such as Midway in the Pacific made naval aviation the dominant form of sea warfare, and since 1945 the carrier fleet and submarines have underpinned American deterrence.

Founded during the Meiji Restoration, it won the 1905 Battle of Tsushima against the Russian Baltic Fleet and pioneered carrier aviation between the wars. It struck Pearl Harbor in December 1941, lost four fleet carriers at Midway in June 1942, and was dissolved after Japan surrendered in 1945.

Formed on 1 April 1918 by merging the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, making it the first independent air force. Its Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons won the 1940 Battle of Britain, and it later flew the V-bomber nuclear deterrent before that role passed to Royal Navy submarines.

Founded on 1 August 1927 as the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party, and since a 2016 reorganization it fields ground forces, a navy, an air force and a rocket force under one command. It shows the modern pattern of one force holding several domains, and its naval and missile growth is closely watched.

Established as an independent service on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act, separating from the Army Air Forces. It was built on the doctrine that air power was decisive in its own right, and it ran Cold War deterrence through bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Established on 20 December 2019 as the first new American service since the Air Force in 1947. Its Guardians operate satellite communications, missile warning and GPS, and it is organized in Space Deltas, a sign that space is now treated as a contested military domain.